Split Personality
by kawaii kaijuu
Summary: Two years after Kagome's entrance into his world, Inuyasha is still puzzled about his true feelings for her. Will a chance encounter with a suspicious drunk magician provide him the answer he needs? What does Kagome have to say about his new..er..'personalities'. Read on to find out ; IY/K, M/S. Rated T & M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hello again everyone! Looooooooong time no see, I know (grins sheepishly). I'm sorry for the long leave of absence I took from my fics, I know I've not been a good author and updated as per promised. A lot of things happened (I don't want to bore y'all with details) but I'm back now, hopefully for a long time I really do intend to complete the stories I've posted so far but they may take a little while since I need to revisit and re-read them all over again. But be rest assured, to all those who've been following up on my stories and reviewing consistently, you won't have to wait long I promise. I'll bring you guys your eagerly awaiting chapters ASAP! (thumbs up)

In the meantime, this is new story I'm working on. It's my very first Inuyasha Fanfiction and I'm hoping to get a lot of reviews and constructive criticisms for it (no flames please). Inuyasha's by far my most favourite anime and character, I absolutely love the dog-eared hanyou and the miko from the future and I've been wanting to write a fic based on them. I finally got my inspiration and I hope it comes out good. (fingers crossed).

As for the timeline of this story, well let's just say that it happens sometime after the Inuyasha movie: The castle beyond the looking glass (because the kiss Kagome and Inuyasha shared is quite significant here *wink wink*). In this story, it's been two years since Kagome landed in Sengoku Jidai and let's just keep it at that for the sake of the script, any further dwelling into the timeline would just give y'all a headache :P

Also, this fic may/may not contain adult themes (cough!) and scenes but actually that depends upon the flow the story takes. I do intend to bring in a little romance and passion wherever necessary so I'd say the rating for the fic would be somewhere between T and M. It would be better if you're above 16 when you read it, for your own heart's sake :P

That said I hope you guys will like this fic as much as you like my previous ones. Once again, I'm really sorry if you thought that I'd abandoned you all. I would never do that, you readers are most important to me. I promise I'll get back to 'Pack of love' as soon as this one stabilizes. Until then, Happy reading! :D

P.S: this may seem a little too big to be a prologue but bear with it kay? :P

P.P.S: Future Author's notes won't be as big as this one, I swear :P

* * *

~~~~O.o.O.o.O~~~~

**PROLOGUE:**

It was a beautiful day in Sengoku Jidai. The birds hummed, the bees buzzed, the flowers bloomed and Inuyasha had just recovered from his fifth SIT in twenty minutes.

Obviously what sprouted from his fanged mouth was not one of Shakespeare's love sonnets.

"Fuck Kagome! Don't you fucking dare take a fucking step towards that fucking well!"

Kagome's short skirt swiveled around her creamy thighs, letting the world have a short glimpse of her bunny panties, as she turned and fixed her hanyou with a murderous glare. "You can't stop me from going home Inuyasha, not this time!" she whirled around and fastened her pace.

"You are NOT going home!" Inuyasha sprang to his feet and with one gigantic leap, landed in front of her, blocking her way to the well. "We finally found news as to where Naraku might be lurking and we can't afford to have you gone! So you are staying RIGHT HERE!"

The growl that Kagome emitted would have made the hanyou proud, if he were not blinded by rage. He yelped suddenly when the miko's hand shot out and grabbed a lock of his silver hair. Pulling him closer, Kagome snarled out, very much like a bitch set out to protect her pups "I'll say this one more time Inuyasha, in two days I've got a major test coming up in school and if I fail to attend this one, I won't graduate this year, which means I'll be stuck in the same class for another year, and that's something I'm not eager to do. So whether you like it or not, I'm going home, to prepare and write my test. I will be back in four days at the least and until then you can play fetch with the others or whatever. Got that?" she didn't wait for a response, she was on a roll. "And if you come to my time to look for me I will personally skewer your cute puppy ears, fry them on my stove and feed them to the street-dogs!"

Inuyasha, in all honesty, had not paid a single attention to what she was saying. Rather he was mesmerized by her pink lips as they formed angry incoherent words in the air. They were so pink, so lush and _so close_. If he just leaned a little closer, he could get a whiff of her breath, probably a slight caress of those tender tissues. Just when the thought had processed in his mind he saw her lips outline the words 'ears' and he snapped back to reality. _'She's going for the ears? Oh hell no!'_ Clasping her wrists in a clawed hand he abruptly turned from the well and back in the direction of the village, dragging her along his wake. "Save your arguments for later Kagome, I'm taking you back to the village. I don't care what other ridiculous things you have to go to but for now you are staying put, right here. You can go once we deal with the problem at hand." He offered. See? He was even being generous.

Kagome felt a tick develop on her forehead. She had tried to be civil with the entire issue, if one could consider the numerous 'sit's she'd sent his way as being civil, but she had been kinder than usual and he had to go and ruin it all by being callous again. It didn't matter now, he had this one coming. Inhaling as much air as her lungs could hold, she wrenched her hand out of his grip and let them all out in a single "SIT!"

Down went Inuyasha, puppy ears and all. He cursed out loud as he once again met with his longtime companion, Mr. Mud.

"Sit! Sit! Sit!" Kagome let out a string of sits, just in case, and bolted to the well. Dropping her monstrous yellow bag into its depths, she propped one knee on the ledge and looked back to the hanyou still lying on his face, his butt sticking in the air. "The problem at hand right now was you Inuyasha, and I already took care of it." She couldn't suppress the giggle that sounded at his muffled cursing. "See you after four days." With that, she jumped into the well and was engulfed by the familiar blue light.

Miroku emerged from the bushes, brushing the leaves of his robes and held out a hand for his slayer friend, helping her up. "So Sango, when will it be convenient for you to pay up?" he grinned at Sango's angry blush.

"This is ridiculous." She muttered as she stalked off to where Inuyasha still lay on the ground. Towering over him with her hands on her slender kimono-clad hips, she scolded. "Inuyasha, I hope you are happy with what you've done."

"Leave me alone." The hanyou bit out, spitting mud from his mouth.

"This was not how you were supposed to behave!"

"Keh!"

"And now you made me lose the wager and owe money to Miroku."

"Hey, I didn't tell you to bet on me, did I?"

Miroku's smile widened as he watched his hanyou friend argue with the woman of his dreams. Thanks to Inuyasha's stupidity, it appeared he could buy sake tonight _and_ save his money. Maybe he should continue with the betting business. He walked up to the arguing pair and placed a soothing hand on Sango's shoulder. "Sango dearest, you know that it's pointless to try and inject some sense into Inuyasha. I suggest you don't waste your breath on him." He flashed his smile at her as his hand lowered to its favourite place.

The slap that sounded echoed all through the trees. Inuyasha, still on his stomach, looked to his right to see Miroku kissing the ground. He smirked. "Nice of you to join me monk."

"Don't mention it." Came the muffled reply.

Sango heaved, face blotched red due to anger and embarrassment. "You both are a couple of idiots I tell you, _idiots!_"

"I agree with Sango on that." A perky voice sounded from the behind her and Shippo stepped into the limelight, sucking on a lollipop, followed by Kirara. He pointed the lollipop like a sword at Miroku. "You, Miroku, should learn to keep your hands to yourself. And you, Inuyasha" he shifted to the hanyou "you should start being nice to Kagome for once. This entire behavior is annoying, even to a kid like me."

Sango smiled as she patted his head. "There. See? Even Shippo has got more intelligence than you two." Shippo smiled cutely at her and resumed sucking his lollipop in a rather smug manner.

Miroku groaned as he sat up. "Sango dearest, I'm terribly sorry if I'd offended you, but you know my hand—

"I know your mind too Houshi, and I don't like it one bit." Sango growled.

Miroku ignored her and continued. "But that's not the matter. We came here to deal with Inuyasha and his rather vile behavior towards Kagome-sama—

"I ain't vile!" Inuyasha yelled as he sprang to his feet. "All I did was tell her she could go home after we resolve this new information about Naraku. She's the one who didn't take up my offer!"

"She needed to go home _today_ Inuyasha." Sango explained, exasperated. "You know how much she values those 'tests' of hers."

"Keh! If she just stopped going to that stupid 'school' things would be a lot better." Inuyasha hmphed and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, and then she would become an illiterate idiot like you. Who'd want that?" Shippo yelped as he received a bop on his head. Turning teary eyes towards the hanyou he yelled. "What was that for?"

"For not keeping yer trap shut, you runt!" Inuyasha growled in return.

"I'm telling Kagome!"

"Keh! Like I care!"

"Children please." Miroku jingled his staff, calling the group's attention. "We have a matter to settle here and I don't want you to interrupt me." He winked at Sango, who rolled her eyes and bent down to scoop up Kirara, ready to head back to the village. "Inuyasha, we all know how much you miss Kagome-sama when she goes off to her home—

"I DON'T miss her, stupid monk!" The staff came down hard on Inuyasha's head and he yelped. Shippo sniggered, and then quickly ducked behind his slayer friend. "I said _don't_ interrupt me." Miroku ground out, rather dangerously. When Inuyasha obliged, rubbing his head, he continued. "Right. No matter how much you deny it, we know that you don't like it when she goes off and that's not just because she won't be here to help collect the shards. Knowing this, I don't think we can allow your callous behavior towards Kagome-sama's feelings any longer."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the monk. "Meaning?" he asked suspiciously.

"Meaning if you don't tell Kagome-chan that you like her, then we will. And we'll make sure everyone in the village knows it too." Sango said smirking as his look turned horrified.

"You wouldn't!" he gasped.

"We would." Miroku nodded.

"But I don't like her! She's just a frien—

"Oh please Inuyasha." Sango glared at him. "You can fool anyone but not us. We can see the looks that you send her when she's not looking are anything but friendly."

"That's not—

"We also happened to hear certain things you said in your sleep last night. Too bad Kagome-sama was too deep into her slumber to hear them." Miroku said. Inuyasha stiffened as he observed Miroku's smirk and Sango's light blush. What had he said last night? Did he say something stupid? Or embarrassing?

Sensing Inuyasha's question before he asked it Miroku replied. "You were calling, rather _moaning_ Kagome-sama's name in your sleep." He watched as the hanyou's face colored up. Sango's blush was full-on as she looked anywhere but the two in front of her. "It was quite…suggestive." He wriggled his eyebrows for added effect.

Inuyasha went as red as his haori. _'Shit!'_ he thought. He'd had one of _those_ dreams again. And he hadn't been quiet about it. _'Shit! I'll never live this one down!'_

Miroku's smirk widened. He cleared his throat. "Judging by the color of your face I gather that you remember now. So Inuyasha, can you still say that she's just your 'friend'?"

Inuyasha's ear swiveled in all directions as he contemplated whether to run or not. He knew that his friends would not stop this discussion, and if they do spread this to the entire village he'll die of shame. Worse, if they brought this up in front of Kagome…he inwardly shuddered. He didn't want to even think of that possibility. Gathering what wits he had, he lied through his fangs "Keh! You got it all wrong you perverted monk. I was just dreaming that I was in pain that's all."

"Pain from quite a strenuous activity I presume." Miroku said and Sango, if possible, blushed harder. Shippo looked at the two in confusion, not catching what was going on.

Inuyasha staggered back. "I-you-I don't-that's none of your business!" he finally spluttered.

"Inuyasha, just admit that you love her." Shippo scowled, getting bored with all the blushes and smirks. It was fun if he understood what's happening, but it was downright annoying if he didn't.

Inuyasha growled at the kitsune. "I don't 'love' her!"

"Inuyasha…" Sango groaned but the hanyou cut her.

"I can't love her." Inuyasha gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. His ears drooped ever so slightly. "Kikyo owns my heart." Sango's eyes softened at that. He sounded rather…sad.

Miroku, however, didn't miss a beat. "Your heart yes, but certainly not your libido."

The reaction was quite hilarious. Inuyasha looked at him like he'd grown two heads, Sango let out a gasped "Miroku!" as her face turned fiery red and Shippo, if possible, looked even more confused. Miroku waited, but the hanyou seemed rather frozen. He smirked. "I'm right aren't I?"

Inuyasha growled hard, despite the huge blush on his face. "You pervert!"

"What's a li-bi-do?" Shippo questioned innocently.

"It's nothing Shippo." Sango answered quickly. But Shippo wasn't done.

"Some kind of lollipop?"

Inuyasha almost fell over while Sango gaped at the kit with wide eyes. Miroku just laughed good-naturedly. "In a way it is Shippo." He grinned wickedly.

"Sango you'd better knock him off with your weapon before I kill him!" Inuyasha growled, steadying himself.

"I'm sort of tempted to let you kill him Inuyasha." Sango growled in reply.

Miroku held up his beaded hand in a reassuring gesture. "Ah come on, I was merely stating the facts that the Gods have shown me. Inuyasha" the hanyou stiffened at being addressed. "You have to admit that what I said was, at least, partially right ne?"

Inuyasha did not know what to say, so he "keh'd" and turned away.

"Exactly." Miroku smirked. "You may not accept now as to what your feelings towards Kagome-sama are but your body certainly realizes what it feels. Especially after last night's dream, I'm sure it feels _pretty good_ about her—

"Ok that's enough listening to this conversation Shippo, let's head home." Sango said, turning towards the village.

"But I want to hear—

"Now." Shippo lowered his head and trudged after her. Sango looked over her shoulder at the two men. "I'm sure you can continue with you graphic talk without our company Miroku." She narrowed her eyes at the grinning monk before following the kitsune.

Miroku stared at the slayer's swaying hips for some time before turning back to his friend. The hanyou looked sad and confused, his ears drooped and head down and Miroku almost felt sorry for him, _almost._ But he knew that he would not get another opportunity to open up this topic again. "Inuyasha." He suppressed a smile when the hanyou replied with an annoyed grunt.

"You're not going to drop it, are you?" Inuyasha ground out.

"Nope." Miroku replied cheerily. "In fact, I think this is the perfect time to discuss this, what with Kagome-sama gone to her time." He continued, ignoring the hanyou's warning growl.

"You know monk, I'm really tempted to seriously maim you now."

"Yeah yeah, we all know how much you'd love to shed my blood, but that won't solve your problem my friend. In fact it would only worsen it, seeing as how Sango would be after your life if you so much as mess my hair, at least that what I'd like to think, but I do believe that she will avenge me, I mean I know she cares for me, she's just too shy to show it outright—

"Just get it over with houshi!"

"The point is" Miroku said loudly, his tone turning serious. "You are not going to accomplish anything by pushing things aside and running away. Sometimes you just have to face what's before you. You have to take your chances and give it all you got."

"What exactly are you implying houshi?"

Miroku sighed. "Just admit your feelings."

"I just did! I told you how I feel about her—

"Those are not your true feelings Inuyasha." Miroku cut him off. "Those are the cover-up excuses your mind cooked up to hide the truth from yourself, and from us. But we can see right through you."

"You're crazy!" Inuyasha huffed and started walking towards the village, very much intent on ignoring the monk.

"You know she'll always come back." Miroku continued a bit loudly, causing the hanyou to pause in his angry stride. "She's always returned to you, wherever she went. And yet you find it hard to let her go. Now why is that hm?"

"Because we need her to find the—

"A simple 'shard-detector' wouldn't have you waiting for her like an eager puppy Inuyasha." The hanyou turned slowly to look into the monk's violet eyes, eyes that seemed to bore into his very soul and unlock the emotions he'd hidden within. "Think about what I said."

He stood motionless as Miroku walked past him to the village, his staff jingling along his wind picked up, playing with the fine hairs on the hanyou's ears, causing them to twitch lightly. A single leaf flew by his face and he watched as it floated down gently to rest on the rim of the worn-out well. "Eager puppy huh?" he grimaced, watching the well with such intensity, almost as if he was willing it to bring her back to him. He shook his head. "Yeah right Miroku." He muttered, whirling around and trudging off to the village. "You could have done better."

* * *

~~~~O.o.O.o.O~~~~

"That Inuyasha is such a jerk!" Kagome huffed as she threw her bag onto the ground beside the well. "Would it hurt him to cave in a little bit? It's not like I'm taking a vacation or anything! Mou!" She hoisted herself out and landed next to her bag. Brushing the dust from her skirt she looked back into the well, her angry expression softening a little bit.

"Maybe I was a little harsh on him back then." She bit her lip, placing a hand on the well's surface. "Should I go back and apologize?" An image of Inuyasha's cocky grin surfaced in her mind and her scowl returned with renew. She shook her head vigorously. "What on earth am I saying? Me? Apologize to that baka? No way! He deserved what he got!" she glared down the well and stuck out her tongue, hoping the gesture would reach him somehow.

The door to the well house opened and Mama Higurashi stood there with her usual smile and a bag of groceries in her hand. "Ah Kagome, I thought I heard you. Welcome back."

Kagome turned and greeted her with a warm smile of her own. "Mama! I'm back."

"And for how long?"

"Four days." Kagome grimaced, hefting the heavy bag onto her shoulder. "Provided Inuyasha doesn't come for me. Well I promised him I'd castrate him if he did."

"Oh my, did you have to go that far?" Mama asked as they both made their way to the house. "That was a little extreme don't you think?"

"But Mama he's being so impossible!" Kagome whined. "He knows how much these tests are important to me. I don't want to resort to violence but he leaves me no choice, he's so…argh!"

Mama giggled at her daughter's wild expression. "Well let's hope he doesn't come to get you this time, for my grandchildren's sake." She grinned wider at the shocked "Mama!" that issued from the now blushing teenager. "Come on, I'll fix your bath. You must be tired. And then I'll make you oden tonight. It's been a while since Mama cooked it for you ne?"

All thoughts of Inuyasha flew from her mind and her blush disappeared when her mom mentioned 'Oden'. Letting out a wide smile Kagome nodded and hurried up to her room.

* * *

~~~~O.o.O.o.O~~~~

Kaede's eyebrow ticked irritably for the umpteenth time as she stirred the stew currently bubbling away over the fire. When she saw the lingering blush on Sango's face when she'd come in with a dejected looking Shippo she did not know if it was one of embarrassment or anger. And when Miroku had walked in with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes she'd thought he'd put his moves on the slayer again, but the absence of the trademark handprint on his cheek had her confused. Only when Inuyasha had walked in, grumpy mood and twitchy ears and all, had she realized that the monk's victim had been the hanyou all along. Seeing that Miroku was alive and well she deduced that whatever Miroku had told Inuyasha must have been something deep which left the hanyou too confused with his own feelings to harm the monk. And the only topic which affected Inuyasha to the point of being confused was Kagome-related. Kaede sighed. This deduction did nothing to ease the tension now swirling within her hut.

"Lunch's ready." She announced to whoever was listening. Fortunately Sango responded with a soft 'hai' and helped her divide the stew into five bowls. Shippo sat in his spot, rubbing Kirara's ears, glancing at Miroku then Inuyasha then back at the floor from time to time. Said monk sat in relaxed pose quite close to the kitsune, his back leaned onto the wall and his eyes closed. At Kaede's mention of dinner he opened his eyes and gave her a smile. "Ah that smells great Kaede-sama. Thank you."

Kaede nodded at him, eyeing his smile wearily, then turned to the half demon currently sulking away at the corner of her hut. "Inuyasha? Aren't you hungry?"

A single ear twitched. "No I'm good."

Kaede shot a suspicious look at the monk who was now sipping his broth calmly. For the ever-hungry Inuyasha to refuse dinner, the monk must have hit him _really _deep with his words. Kaede sighed again. This could take a while to clear up.

All of a sudden there was a rustling of clothes and the irate hanyou stood up. Three pairs of eyes looked at him expectantly. "A walk" was all he said before roughly pushing the straw-mat door aside and leaving the hut. Said three pairs of eyes then rounded upon the monk who was still sipping his broth calmly.

"Miroku don't you think you've gone a little far this time?" Sango admonished lightly. "He's even refused dinner. What did you tell him after Shippo and I left to make him mope so much?"

"Just the truth Sango dearest." Miroku said, putting his bowl down. "That he was not being true to himself or anyone of us for that matter."

"Yeah but to put it onto him all of a sudden like this—

"It's been two years Sango, you still think it's sudden? Kagome-sama is surely strong and has a good heart but there's only so much she can take. And we all know that what Inuyasha feels for her, it's time he admitted to it."

"But—

"I think Miroku's right." Shippo chipped in. "If Inuyasha told Kagome that he liked her, then she wouldn't have to leave us from time to time like this." The kitsune looked into his bowl sadly. "I don't like it when she's not here."

Sango's eyes softened. "Oh Shippo, I don't think Kagome-chan leaving us occasionally has anything to do with Inuyasha. You know she has a life there as well."

"Yeah but if Inuyasha would just stop being mean to her and admit to his feelings then she would be more willing to stay here right?"

Sango sighed. She didn't want to counter him on that, for even she wished for the same thing.

"Inuyasha can be a real jackass sometimes." Shippo added sourly.

"Shippo!" Sango scolded.

"No I agree with Shippo." Miroku said. "Considering how much Kagome-sama has been patient with him all this time, what with him running after Kikyo-sama whenever he gets a wind of her…er, no offense Kaede-sama." He smiled sheepishly at the old priestess who shook her head at him.

"None taken Miroku. I'm not so biased as to take my sister's side here. Inuyasha is facing a turmoil within him that we could only possibly guess and gossip about, but never know. A hanyou's heart is nothing like its demon or human counterparts. Taking into consideration how Inuyasha's had to spend his life all these years, we can't possibly expect him to come to grips with his real feelings within the short span of two years. He's not one who's had as much experience with women as ye Miroku." She looked the monk deep in the eye.

The little speech got Miroku thinking. "Perhaps you are right Kaede-sama, maybe I went a little far this time…" he admitted.

"We both did Miroku." Sango comforted him softly. "I just didn't want him to deny something that was already so obvious to everyone else. I pacified myself thinking that maybe this is how he shows his affection for her, by being mean to her."

"Maybe, maybe not. Like I said we can only guess." Kaede said, placing back the empty bowls to be cleaned. "Inuyasha has always been a tough book to read, what with his snappy attitude and all. Probably the only person who knows him best amongst us is Kagome. She was able to get past the barriers in his heart after all, even farther so when compared to my sister." The old miko groaned lightly as she rose to her feet. "I won't say what ye did today was wrong Miroku, sometimes he deserves a knock on the head, but give him some time to process it. He'll come to ye eventually; ye are like a brother to him after all."

Miroku chuckled lightly. "If only he would. I would gladly be here for him when he does. Oh leave those dishes Kaede-sama, Sango and I will tend to them."

The inmates of the hut resumed their activities, oblivious to the hanyou perched on the roof of the hut who'd heard every word of their conversation.

* * *

~~~~O.o.O.o.O~~~~

"So, I'm a jackass with a snappy attitude huh? Keh!"

Twigs snapped and leaves ripped as the angry hanyou cut himself a path through the thick forest, running at breakneck speed, away from his 'companions' within the hut. Skipping over the tall trees, he continued running until he reached a clearing with a pond. Landing on the ground he walked up to the water-line and plopped himself onto the ground in a typical dog-like fashion. He peered down into the serene surface of the pond and scowled at his own reflection. _"Well, damn them all! They were the ones who sprung these feelings onto me without warning!"_

The hanyou sighed as he thought about what his friends had been talking about inside the hut. Was he really that tough a book to read? Did he really have no clue as to what his feelings towards Kagome were? What did he feel for her really? He closed his eyes and imagined Kagome standing before him. Immediately his mind was filled with her beautiful smiling face, his ears tingled with her laughter, his nose seemed to remind him of her sweet scent. He blushed and felt a goofy smile spread across his face. He felt at peace with the world. _"Maybe I really do like her."_ He thought. No sooner had he thought that when the smiling face in his mind contorted into an angry scowl as she spat the dreaded 'sit' command to him over and over again. Inuyasha growled and snapped his eyes open, the giddy feeling gone. "Keh! Me like her? She's nothing but a shard-detector that's it! Stupid woman!"

But he knew somewhere deep within his heart, that Kagome was not just that to him anymore. He remember the many times she'd shed tears for him, fought for him, smiled for him. No matter how much he denied, he couldn't help but turn into mush every time she gave him that smile. He remembered the time she'd asked to stay with him, despite knowing how he felt about Kikyo. He'd thought his heart would beat itself out of his chest and into her hands at the happiness he felt. Why did he feel so ecstatic when she'd promised that she would stay? And the one time when she'd kissed him, to break him from the spell of Princess Kaguya. Inuyasha brought a finger to his lips. Her lips had felt so soft, so vulnerable. How he'd longed to feel them once again, to taste them without restraint once again. Why would he feel all that to a mere shard-detector?

Inuyasha sighed again. All these questions were only confusing him further. He already knew that he would do anything for Kagome; he would protect her with his life. Kagome had changed his life so much that without her in it, he probably wouldn't be the same anymore. But was he willing to love her, with all his heart, the way he'd loved Kikyo? Come to think of it, _did_ he love Kikyo with all his heart? When Naraku had driven a wedge between him and Kikyo, he'd been quite eager to accept the fact that she'd betrayed him. Would that have been true if it had happened between him and Kagome as well? Would Kagome have believed that he would betray her?

"_No."_ a fierce voice spoke in his mind. _"Kagome trusts me above everything else. She believes in me. She would never, for one moment, think that I would do anything to hurt her. And I wouldn't think that of her either."_ The hanyou blinked. How was he so vehemently able to admit that? Does that mean that she's more significant to him than Kikyo was? Kikyo's words from long back floated back into his head. "Does that girl mean more to you that I do, Inuyasha?"

"Argh this is getting me nowhere!" he growled and got to his feet. Feelings, emotions, he never was good with those stuffs. If it hadn't been for Miroku and Sango injecting these thoughts into his head he would have had his meal and be enjoying his sleep right now. Speaking of meal…

GROOOOOOOWL. Inuyasha sulked as his stomach growled hungrily. Maybe he shouldn't have acted haughty and accepted Kaede's stew. He sighed yet again. If only Kagome was there now to cook him up some ninja food.

"_Kagome…"_

The hanyou looked wistfully towards the direction of the bone eater's well. It was not even a day and he was missing her already. Shit, Miroku was right. He really was an eager puppy wasn't he? His feet started walking before his mind could register and before he knew it, he was looking down into the well. One jump and he could be by her side again, inhaling her sweet unique scent. He plopped down by the well, propping his chin against the ledge. His mind wandered towards the earlier conversation again and he blushed when he remembered the comment Miroku had made about his dream last night. Recently, those dreams had been occurring quite frequently, making him see Kagome in somewhat a different light. He couldn't deny it, she really was very beautiful, she always had been. But two years of fighting demons and battling on rough terrain had molded her pretty well. No more was she the naïve little school girl that had fallen into his world and into his life. Now she was a woman, a warrior priestess with eyes that held the intelligence and maturity of having seen so many battles and bloodshed. Her body, which was at a growing stage when he'd first seen her, had become supple and curvy thanks to the hardships she had to face every day. He couldn't help but admit that he'd had one too many nosebleeds every time he thought about her bathing or being in the nude, something that had only managed to make him blush and splutter before. Now, seeing her on the battlefield in that mini skirt had him tingling all over, especially in a place down south. Inuyasha blushed harder. When had he become aware of all these feelings inside him?

He couldn't help but sigh at the memory of the dream. Of course he'd wanted to kiss her, wanted to taste those pouty pink lips. He'd wanted to do so ever since the first kiss that she gave him. He wanted to lick her skin, see if she tasted the way she did in his dream. He wanted to see her beautiful brown eyes grow dark and hooded as they gazed up at him lovingly. He wanted to hear her sweet husky voice moan out his name as he moved rhythmically inside her…

Inuyasha groaned, feeling himself grow hard. God did these emotions mean that what he felt for Kagome was not just friendship? His inner demon purred at the memory of the dream and the prospect of turning it into reality. Did this mean that he'd begun seeing Kagome in a new light? That without him realizing it, he'd actually truly fallen in lo—

His ears and nose twitched and the hanyou sprang to his feet suddenly, flexing his claws as he looked around the clearing. No mistaking it, there was a demon nearby. He inhaled deeply, taking in the scents around him. Nothing smelled poisonous or foul but he knew it was demon and not human, it smelled too funny to be human.

"Damn ya spotted me. I was havin' so much fun reading yer emotions ya know. Especially the last part." A raspy voice sniggered.

The hanyou growled and cracked his knuckles. Just how long had this demon been around him, without him noticing? "Show yourself bastard!" he bit out.

"Hey ther's no need ta be rude lad, I ain't done nothin' to ya…yet." The voice chuckled as from within the clearing a figure came out into the open. Inuyasha blinked once, then twice. The creature barely looked taller than his hip but it was definitely old. Its face was wrinkled with age and its head was as bald and smooth as a pebble. A long white beard grew from his face, stopping just before its hip. It wore what seemed to be a collection of rags and a hood. It eyes reminded the hanyou of Totosai's large orbs but with droopy eyelids and its wrinkled cheeks looked flushed, as if it was drunk. The little demon shot him a crooked open-mouthed smile, showing several missing teeth. "Hiya kid."

"Don't 'hiya kid' me you old freak! What were you doing spying on me?" Inuyasha barked.

The old man or demon took a swig from the bottle in its hand and scratched its bald head. "I wasn' spyin' or nothin' kiddo, I was jus' passin' by when I saw ya mopin' by this ol' well. Yer face look'd interestin' I jus' had ta read it. Boy ya sure 'ave quite a story ta tell."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. The demon didn't seem dangerous but he kept his guard up anyway. "What do you mean you were reading my face? Just who are you anyway?"

"O ya I didn' interduce meself. Name's Tokichi kid. Tokichi the face-reader. I'm a magici'n see." The old man grinned again before taking another swig off his bottle.

"Wait, you're not a demon then?" Inuyasha asked, surprised.

The old woman scowled at him, tripping on his feet as he made his way towards him. "Do I look like a demon ta ya?"

"Well you smell like one, old man."

"Heh, must be the sake. An' I 'aven had a bath in days." He said, sniffing at himself. "But I can figh' a demon good I can. Best magici'n aroun'." He grinned again.

Inuyasha relaxed and folded his arms into his haori sleeves. The old man didn't seem to be a threat. He plopped down to the ground so he could come up to his level. "And? Why do you call yourself the face reader?"

"Cus' I can read people's faces and tell wha' they'r thinkin', I can." The old man hiccupped. "People make all sort'sa interestin' expressions wh'n they th'nk. It's kinda funny. Like th' 'uns ya made jus' now."

Inuyasha blushed then scowled. Could this old guy have known what was going through his head just now?

"Oo ya, I know wha' ya'v been thinkin' abou' sonny." The old man chuckled as he plopped down next to the hanyou. Inuyasha immediately scooted away a little, scrunching up his nose. "Gurl troubles ey?" he wiggled his white eyebrows.

Inuyasha felt his blush deepen and keh'd. "Shut up old freak."

"But ya know, yer doin' that gurl a mean thing kid." The old man continued. "Ya luv 'er th'n ya gotta tell 'er that ya luv 'er. S'not good ta keep a wom'n waitin', they c'n be vicious creat'ers they c'n." Another swig from the bottle.

"I don't love her ya wrinkled old bag." Inuyasha scowled. "I ain't got no idea how I feel about her."

The old man chuckled again, a few drops of sake dripping from his mouth. "Tha's cus yer c'nfuused kid. List'n." He reached up with a bony shriveled hand to pat at Inuyasha's chest. "Wha' dos yer heart tell ya?"

Inuyasha blinked. Was this grandpa giving him therapy lessons now? "I don't know, is it supposed to tell me anything?"

The geezer shook his bald head. "Yer suppos'd ta list'n to yer inn'r heart kid. Yer inn'r feelin's. Ther's 'nly 'un heart, it can't be that hard. Unles'…"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "Unless what?"

The old man blinked up at him, his saucer like eyes growing bigger as they stared at him from top to bottom. Then he burst out laughing. "Yer a hanyou, ar'ncha?" he wheezed. "No wond'r yer c'nfuused kid. Man th's is interestin' it is."

Inuyasha growled, barely controlling himself from ripping the little guy's head off his neck. "So what if I'm a hanyou you old fart, you got a thing against hanyous?" he snarled, his ego coming to his defense as usual.

The old man shook his head again, wiping at his eyes. "No no ya got me wron' kid. I luv hanyou, their faces 're th' most compl'cated to read. They'r always a chall'nge fer me. Jus' like ya." He directed his crooked smile up at the confused hanyou.

"But why am I a challenge to you? You just said you read what I was thinking?"

"Aye I did, bu' t'wasn' easy kid, not like ev'ry 'un else. An' ya know why?" The hanyou shook his head negative. "Tha's cus ya 'ave not 'un bu' _two_ hearts ta list'n ta, yer dem'n an' yer hum'n hearts."

Inuyasha blinked again. "My demon and human hearts?" This was a new concept. All this time he thought he had two different types of blood. Now he learns that he has two different _hearts_ beating within him. He felt a headache coming up. How's that even possible?

A bonk on the head brought him back. "I wus speakin' figurativ'ly kid. Ya 'ave 'un heart in ya, bu' ther's two differn' sides ta it, like two sides ta a coin. Both sides 're not compat'ble wit' each oth'r." The old man took another swig from his bottle.

"You know, for a drunk, you sure can speak a lot of big words."

The magician narrowed his eyes at the cheeky comment. "Heh, mock me kid if ya wan', I'm no' th' 'un wit' two c'nfuused hearts in me." He sniggered when Inuyasha keh'd sourly. "Th' 'nly way ya c'n come ta a concl'sion wit' yerself is to list'n to both hearts, and draw a sol'tion."

"How do I do that?"

" 'Aven' ya seen monks meditatin' kid? Wha' do ya th'nk they meditate fer? Ta list'n ta their inn'r feelin's. Tho' tis cheesy, tha's th' 'nly way to get ta know th' real ya inside."

Inuyasha scowled. "Keh! There's no way I'm doing shit like that. I've seen Miroku do that sometimes and it doesn't do him any good. He's still as fucked up as ever." A light went on in his head. "Hey you're a magician right? Couldn't you cook up a spell for me? Something that could help me with this?"

The old man narrowed his eyes again. "Ther's no spell ta realiz' 'uns feelin's ya idiot! Ya gotta study yerself without 'nyone's help. Tha's 'ow tis done." He nodded his bald head for emphasis.

Inuyasha pouted. "If it was that easy you think I wouldn't have done that already? I just don't know ok, the more I think the more I get confused. And I don't want that." He thought back to what Shippo said from inside the hut, that Kagome would stay here more often if Inuyasha would admit his true feelings to her. He needed to know his true feelings dammit. "I don't want to lose Kagome 'cause of this." He admitted sadly.

The old magician looked at the sad hanyou from the corner of his eyes as he drank his sake. He had said the truth; the hanyou had to find out the truth for himself, the truth which was already glaringly obvious to the geezer. The old man chuckled lightly. The poor fellow was head over heels in love with the woman, but something in him was denying it so strongly. Was it his human side? Or his demon side? He continued reading Inuyasha's face. The hanyou seemed to have faced a lot of emotional conflicts in his life. Such was the life of a half-demon after all. The fact that he already thinks about this 'Kagome' woman so much is a wonder in itself. She must have made quite a big impact in his life. The old man blinked, the light going on in his head this time. Exactly where did she leave a big impression, on his demon or human heart? If he could find out which side probably has stronger feelings for her then…maybe he could use that new spell he'd just developed…

"Tell ya what kid, I'll help ya." The old man's voice shook Inuyasha out of his momentary reprieve. He looked down to see the crooked smile being offered again. "I might 'ave jus' th' th'ng fer ya. 'Ere, hold this fer me wudcha?" He thrust his empty sake bottle into the bewildered hanyou's hands and clapped his bony hands together as if in prayer. Closing his eyes, the geezer mumbled something in a foreign language and clapped his hands twice. Suddenly with a puff of smoke and a small 'pop' a shaggy bag appeared before him. The old man rummaged within the bag, mumbling something to himself all the while and took out a glass bottle containing a bluish red liquid inside. He handed the bottle to Inuyasha, who took it and sniffed at the contents wearily. "What the hell's this stuff old man?"

"Tis th' answ'r ta yer probl'ms sonny." The magician replied cheerily, chanting another spell to make his bag disappear. He took back the sake bottle from the hanyou, filled it with sake magically and took a swig from it. "Now mind ya it c'n be a li'l rough on th'm tastes buds bu' I sugg'st ya chug it down in 'un swig. Take it on th' nigh' yer powers go weak, when ya start feelin' yer dem'n powers leavin' ya. Ya take it when yer a hum'n it won' give ya no eff'ct. The minut' ya feel the firs' wave o' transfermation ya chug it all down, ya hear?"

Inuyasha looked suspiciously at him. The night he loses his powers, the night of the full moon, that would be tonight. Wow, talk about coincidence. "You're not planning to poison me with this, are ya old man?"

The old man chuckled. "Now why 'ud I wanna do that ey? Like I said, yer'n interestin' spec'men fer me kid. Well I'ma be off now. O' an' mind ya, the magic'l wear off 'nly once ye've found yer true feelin's so if ya don' th'n ya'l nev'r turn back ya norm'l a'righ'? I'll come check on ya from time ta time. See ya kid."

_Normal? What did he mean—_ "Hey what'll happen if I drink this? Hey wait!" But the old man had already disappeared in a cloud of smoke, much like his bag. Inuyasha cursed out loud. "That bastard! He could at least tell me what this thing would do!" He looked down at the funnily smelling concoction in his hand. "I suppose I should tell this to Miroku and have him check if it's poison or not." He felt embarrassment attack him at the thought of admitting to the others about his supposed heart to heart with an unknown magician. Maybe he should just keep it to himself, forget about the whole thing and go about his life as usual? He shook his silver head furiously. This was for Kagome, he was doing this for Kagome. He needed to straighten out his feelings once and for all. He was going to be a man for once and not run away this time. Squaring his shoulders at the new found confidence in him, Inuyasha sped off in the direction of Kaede's hut.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, how was that for the introduction? I know I didn't give away much information about anything in here, but it's already gone past the limit of a normal prologue and I wanted to keep you guys in suspense for a little while (grins wickedly). The next chapter will let you know what the potion in Inuyasha's hands will do to him and the actual story will unfold from then on. I plan to make this as fun and humorous as possible, all the while helping the hanyou come to terms with his true feelings for the miko from the future. After all, they're our favourite couple and we ought to help them get together right? :D I'm not telling much about who else will feature in this fic and how, that's for you guys to read and find out. I'm hoping you will stick around to do so :D

Until the next fic then. Ja ne.

Kaijuu signing off.

P.S: Don't forget to review! Let me know what you think about the opening :D


	2. Chapter 2

Hey there everyone! How are you all doing these days? You guys been good?

… -gets no response from readers-

-sigh- yes I know you guys must have gotten tired of waiting when I told you I'd upload my stories faster now, but really, I'm very sorry I couldn't keep my word. Had to do a lot of stuff for college you know, believe me! ::gets glared at by readers::

::sweatdrops:: hehe hard to believe eh? But worry not, for I have brought you the second chapter to Split Personality (lo and behold). I hope you like it and I'll have you know that I've already started on the third chapter so I should have it up in no time –thumbs up-

Or maybe I shouldn't make any promises eh? -rubs neck sheepishly- Ok fine, you'll get them when you get them. There!

In the meantime, read and review please? I have cookies. Chocolate chip ones at that -grins-

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Inuyasha. All I own is the boxed DVD set of all four Inuyasha movies and Tokichi the drunkard -sigh-

**Warning:** Meh, not much to warn here. Well unless you want to look out for Miroku -evil grin-

**CHAPTER -2**

Kagome…was in heaven.

"Mmmm…" she moaned out throatily as she stretched upon her soft fluffy bed, feeling the satiny sheet under her fingertips. She lifted her left hand to grab her fluffy pillow down under her head while her right hand finger combed her just-shampooed hair, letting the smell of jasmine waft around her. Inhaling the sweet serene scent she smiled. _'Man this is the life. No homework to worry about. No demons to run away from. Just me, my bed and my pillow.'_ She looked down at the fat calico cat purring away on her stomach. _'And Buyo of course.'_ Kagome sighed blissfully, feeling her eyelids drooping down with sleep.

"Kagome? Dinner's ready dea— Oh! You could've at least changed out of the towel honey, you'll catch a cold."

Kagome lifted her head lightly to see her mother paused at her door. She smiled sheepishly. "Gomen Mama, the bed looked so inviting I couldn't help myself." She brushed Buyo off of her stomach and he landed on his head on the floor. Getting up she strode over to her closet to pick up something to wear for the night. "I'll be right down Mama."

Her mother smiled and left her to her work. Kagome sighed again as she let the towel drop and shimmied into her under garments. Moving in front of the full length mirror she twisted around to look at her bra-and-panty clad body in all angles. Two years of being in Sengoku Jidai actually did her body more wonders than not. She now sported a beautiful tan, though it was pretty light to be called an actual tan, but her skin certainly was a shade darker than before. Her arms looked strong and sinewy, but not too muscular. Her legs looked more toned than before and she knew they would look better in her mini skirt now. Her butt developed a nice round shape, thanks to all the running and jumping she did in the feudal era. She was sure it would leave many people drooling if she were to stroll around in her favourite tight-fitting jeans. As for her breasts, Kagome folded her arms across her chest and was delighted with the nice amount of cleavage that had formed. They had surely grown quite beautifully haven't they? Yup, she grinned at her sexy reflection, she was a woman now.

Slowly the grin dissipated as a pout replaced it. All this still did nothing to make Inuyasha notice her more than usual. Kagome's reflection pouted along with her as she thought about the hanyou she had fallen hopelessly in love with. When would he realize that the reason she stuck around with him was because of her undying affection for him? She thought he would have at least gotten a hint by now, especially after the incident at Princess Kaguya's palace. Kagome blushed lightly. It wasn't like she had actually planned to kiss him or anything…

Having put on her nightdress—a white tank top and baby blue boy capris—Kagome towel dried her still-damp raven tresses. Come to think of it, they had never brought up that kiss after that incident. The miko snorted into the towel. Yeah right, as if Inuyasha would _willingly_ bring up something like that. Still, she couldn't help but think that the kiss had had no effect on the hanyou whatsoever, if he hadn't at least subtly mentioned it even once. It kinda…hurt.

A small breeze wafted through the open window in her room, capturing Kagome's attention to it. She walked over to it and placed a hand on the window sill, leaning out to gaze at the old shed that housed the bone eater's well. Inuyasha had always followed her home but he didn't do it this time. Maybe it was because of all the sits she'd sent his way, she grimaced. Or maybe he'd taken her threat seriously. Kagome chuckled. There was no way she'd ever deprive him of his ears, they were his cutest accessories. The miko let out a small sigh. No matter how many times they argued and fought, in the end she'd willingly lose to him. Damn her for falling in love with such a stubborn idiot!

"Kagome!" her mother's voice floated up to her and Kagome sighed again. Yelling a "Coming Mama" in reply, she shut the window close before leaving for dinner.

11111111

_Meanwhile, back in Sengoku Jidai…_

"Hmmm…"

Three pairs of eyes stared intently at the object sitting serenely on the floor of Kaede's hut. Inuyasha's eyebrow ticked irately at the occasional 'hmm' that came out of the owners of said pairs of eyes. Finally he snapped. "Would you guys stop with the stupid humming and tell me what you think!"

Miroku was the first to emerge from observing the bottle Inuyasha had brought back to the hut. "So let me get this straight." He began. "You went for a walk in the woods where you met this…_magician_ who supposedly read your thoughts about Kagome and your own inability at realizing your feelings and he offered you his help by giving you this…_magic potion_ that would supposedly solve all your problems and you willingly accepted it from him, and now you want us to check to see if it's poisoned or not. Am I right?"

Inuyasha, not liking the monk's increasingly skeptical tone one bit, decided that he would not rip his head off like he wanted to…not yet. "Yup, you're right." The hanyou replied as politely as he could. "But I didn't accept it willingly, he thrust it onto me." He added as an afterthought.

Miroku blinked at his silver haired friend. "Are you sure you didn't bonk your head on a tree or something? 'Cause it doesn't seem to be functioning right—

"I'm not delusional you stupid lech!" To hell with courtesy, Inuyasha snapped. "I didn't imagine anything that happened. That guy, Tokichi whatever, really gave me this—

"That's not what I meant baka!" Miroku countered. "I meant that I can't believe you would accept something offered by a stranger so easily. Heck you don't even drink the _water_ that _I_ offer you sometimes!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at Miroku's miffed look but he had to admit, the monk was right. He never accepted anything from anyone; he'd trained himself that way, to trust no one but him. In fact had it not been for Kagome, he probably would still be that way.

"Miroku's right Inuyasha." Sango added. Turning her eyes to the hanyou she said "It's kind of hard to believe that you of all people would consider drinking something offered by someone you've never met before. Seems a little far-fetched to me."

"Me too." Shippo put in his two cents. "You're the one who told me to never accept anything from strangers Inuyasha." The kitsune added accusingly.

Inuyasha didn't know how to make them understand that the situation now was different. "I know what you guys mean, I mean, I know that I'm not keen on trusting anyone that easily. But it's just that I…I…" he struggled to admit his guilty crime of eavesdropping earlier. "I heard you guys talking…in the hut…after I left."

His statement brought about different reactions from his companions. Sango gasped softly, then averted her eyes in obvious guilt. Shippo's eyes widened and he hid behind Kirara, who looked at him confused. Miroku froze for a second before chuckling nervously and backing away from the hanyou. "W-well I understand if you're upset Inuyasha and if you intend to kill me then I suggest you make it quick and go for my head in one swing 'cause I really don't want these robes to be messed up and I want to die looking my best if possible so—

Inuyasha growled. "Shut up monk, I didn't say anything about being upset." This surprised everyone. "I heard you guys talking and…it got me thinking."

Miroku blinked. "You can think?" A harsh blow landed on his head and he yelped. Clutching his aching head he turned to look at an irritated Sango. "Let him finish will you?"

"Thanks Sango." Inuyasha said. "Yes, it got me thinking and I must admit I don't like thinking for long, it hurts my head."

"I wonder why." Miroku muttered sourly, before being shushed by Sango.

"So anyway." The hanyou plunged on, ignoring the monk. "I thought back to what you guys said and one think struck me real hard. It was the fact that Shippo pointed out."

"Me? What did I say?" Shippo squeaked, genuinely fearing for his life now.

"That Kagome probably wouldn't go away so much if I wasn't so mean to her all the time."

Maybe it was the way his ears drooped when he said it or maybe it was the soft tone he used to say it but Sango felt her heart clench in sympathy at the hanyou's words. "Oh Inuyasha." She whispered.

"I know I'm being far-fetched and un-reasonable here but I really don't know what to do. I don't want what Shippo said to happen. I don't…I don't want her to leave." The hanyou looked so depressed at this point that even the little kitsune was feeling guilty for saying such a thing.

"But you know, if that was the reason then you already have a solution in front of you." Miroku commented. "And I don't mean the magic potion."

"What is it?"

"Just be nice to her." The monk deadpanned.

Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched again. "I am nice to her stupid lech." At the monk's skeptically raised eyebrow he added. "Ok sometimes."

"Well just make it all the time."

"I try to do so but do you know how hard it is to be fucking nice to someone when they're so intent on sitting your ass halfway to the middle of the Earth half the time!"

"Hmm…I guess Kagome-chan does take it a little too far sometimes." Sango offered musingly.

"Exactly!" Inuyasha emphasized. "Besides that's not the only reason." The sudden faltering in his voice and the light blush that now spread across his face perked the monk's interest. _'Oh?'_

"I thought about what Miroku said as well, a-about how's she's affecting my um…my *cough*_urges_*cough*"

Sango fought a blush and smile of her own as she looked irately at the monk who was guffawing so hard he could barely stand. She looked back at the bright tomato that was Inuyasha and nodded for him to go on.

Inuyasha cleared his throat, the blush still evident on his nose and cheeks. "S-so as I was saying, thinking all this through didn't get me an answer and when I met that Tokichi guy I thought maybe he could help me somehow, you know, with a spell or something. That's when he gave me the potion."

Miroku peeled himself off the floor and dabbed at his eyes, he'd laughed to the point of tears. "Inuyasha, there is no spell to help you understand your own emotions. All you have to do is listen to your heart and you'll get your answers."

"But that's the thing! Tokichi said that I don't have one heart. I have _two_ hearts, with me being a hanyou and all, and that's what complicates things."

Miroku blanched. "Two…hearts?"

The hanyou nodded earnestly.

"And you believed that?" There went the skeptical eyebrow again.

The hanyou growled.

"You know, it kind of makes sense." Sango mused, stroking Kirara's fur as the kitten climbed onto her lap. "Inuyasha _is_ a half-demon after all. Maybe there's a demon and a human side to his heart as well."

"That's what Tokichi said."

"Ok ok keeping aside what _Tokichi _said" the hanyou growled again at the monk's tone. "Let's suppose that you do listen to him and drink this. What happens then?"

"I don't know. He just told me that this will help solve my problem better."

Miroku blinked. Then rubbed his forehead. His friend was stupid. "So you don't know what this potion will do to you, yet you're willing to drink it and see what'll happen?"

"I don't have a choice do I?" Inuyasha scowled in defense.

"Did you stop to think that it could get you killed?"

"That's why I brought it here, so that you could test to see if it's poisoned!"

"Just because it's not poisoned does not mean it won't harm you!"

"I know that, but I don't know what else to do—

"Maybe we should wait till Kaede-sama is back ne?" Sango offered. The old miko had gone out to tend to a premature birth. "She could offer a better inspection of the potion."

Inuyasha denied the idea. "No I don't have much time. It has to be done tonight."

Shippo looked out the window. "But tonight is—

"The new moon." The hanyou nodded. "Tokichi told me to drink it when my body begins the transformation into my human self."

"Inuyasha." Sango said wearily. "I don't think that's a good idea—

"I know what you're going to say Sango but I've made up my mind. Kagome is pretty important to me, like Miroku said, she's not just a shard detector anymore." The monk smiled smugly at the declaration. "I don't know if I'm actually in lo-if I like her or anything but I want to find out why I keep having mixed feelings with her. Why one moment I wish to stay by side while the next I feel like wringing her neck!" Shippo winced at the exclamation but Inuyasha ignored it in favor of his ranting. "I gave it much thought but honestly I don't see myself getting anywhere. The more I think about it, the more confused I get and I don't want that anymore. If this will get me a proper answer, if this will help me understand my two hearts better then I'm going to do it." His companions blinked at the determination that coated his golden eyes. The hanyou really was intent on solving this issue of his, though not in the way they thought he would.

Miroku looked from Inuyasha to the bottle, then back at Inuyasha. He stared at the hanyou intently for a few seconds, before nodding sharply. "Right. I'll test it out first."

"Wha?" It was Inuyasha's turn to blink now.

"What do you mean you'll test it?" Sango frowned.

"I meant I'll take a sip first to ensure it's not harmful."

"Are you crazy?" Inuyasha all but yelled. "When I asked you to test if it's poisoned I didn't mean to for you to _drink _it and see, stupid lech!"

"Well just consider this as my apology then." The hanyou blinked again at the monk's apologetic smile. "I'm responsible for inducing those confusing thoughts in your head after all, and putting you in a situation where you had to rely on…_this_." He picked up the bottle and swished the liquid in it around.

"But Miroku—

"You're not really going to drink that, are you?" Shippo asked wide-eyed.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Inuyasha growled. "I decided to go through with this on my own, you didn't induce shit. Just let it be, I'll go find Kaede now and ask her to test it out. You don't have to drink it to—

"Also, if I die by this then you'll have one less thing on your list of things to do ne?" Miroku smiled cheerfully as he uncorked the bottle. Before either of his friends could stop him he took a small gulp of the liquid, corked the bottle, placed it on the floor and sat down cross-legged.

There was a moment of bated silence where everyone stared at the monk. Then Shippo asked timidly "Miroku? Are you…okay?"

The monk looked at the concerned kitsune. Then suddenly his entire body convulsed and he clutched at his throat, making gagging noises. Inuyasha sprung to his feet as Sango and Shippo cried out "Miroku!"

"Dammit Miroku! Why the hell did you—

He was abruptly cut off when the monk started to laugh heartily. Trying hard to hold in his chuckles Miroku looked up at the rest of the gang with a goofy grin. "You should have seen the looks on your faces. Priceless!"

The three gaped at him. "You mean you're not poisoned?" Sango asked.

"Nope. I knew it was not poisoned, you think I would've drunk it otherwise OW!" the monk's head snapped to the side from the blow he received from the angry hanyou. Sango huffed angrily and turned away, muttering curses.

"You really are an idiot Miroku. Maybe you should have been actually poisoned." Shippo deadpanned.

"So are you going to drink it now Inuyasha? The sun's about to set." Sango looked at the hanyou.

"Yeah, he told me to take it when the transformation hits me." Inuyasha replied, reaching for the bottle.

"Hey maybe there's a reason why it didn't affect Miroku." Shippo said, struck by a sudden thought. "Inuyasha's a demon right? So maybe the potion only works on demons and not humans."

Inuyasha mused over what the kitsune said. "Come to think of it, he told me it wouldn't work if I tried it as a human."

"Ah then that means my test was not valid." Miroku took the bottle before the hanyou could him and handed it to the Shippo, smiling sweetly. "Here Shippo, you test it."

"What? Me?" the kitsune squeaked. "You don't plan on making a kid like me test that potion do you Miroku?" he brought out his best puppy dog eyes.

"Well you're the demon here, apart from Inuyasha and Kirara, and we can't have Kirara test it out, that would be cruel."

"And having me test it isn't cruel?!"

"That's enough!" Inuyasha growled, snatching the bottle from the monk's hand. "Enough _testing_ this shit, if anyone's drinking this now it's me." He uncorked the bottle. The sun was barely peeking out from the horizon now. "It's time for my transformation anyway." No sooner had he said that when the first jolt of his demon blood fading away hit him. Suppressing a grimace at the odd smell emanating from the liquid, the hanyou tipped the bottle to his lips. "Here goes nothin'." He emptied the contents in one quick gulp.

The others peered at him wearily as the pulsating hanyou smacked his lips to the odd taste. "Well?" Miroku asked.

"…I don't really feel anyth—

The bottle crashed to the floor as Inuyasha clutched at his throat, gasping in a manner similar to what Miroku had done minutes earlier. His body began pulsating faster and he convulsed, dropping to his knees on the ground.

Miroku blinked at his friend. Then chuckled. "Come on Inuyasha, it's not funny to do the same trick twice you know. Besides, my acting was better."

"I don't think he's acting Miroku, look!"

The monk gaped as a bright yellow orb formed at the still struggling hanyou's chest, growing bigger and bigger until Inuyasha's entire body seemed to be engulfed in the light. He scrambled to his feet, along with Sango and Shippo, as the orb floated above them with Inuyasha in it. The hanyou was still clawing vigorously at his throat and chest, his breath coming out in pants and wheezes. "W-water!" he gasped.

"He needs water!" Sango cried out, looking fervently around the hut.

"But how do we get it to him?" Shippo squeaked back.

Suddenly the hanyou let out a howl, loud and painfully. The trio looked on in amazed horror as his entire body shook vigorously.

"He looks like he's having an orgasm." Sango's eye twitched.

"Honestly Miroku!? Now?"

"What? He really does!"

SMACK! "He could be dying you perverted monk!"

"Guys look!"

The two turned at Shippo's voice to see the hanyou's eyes turn blood red and his claws and fangs elongating. Jagged purple stripes appeared on his cheeks and he roared, much like a wild hungry animal about to pounce on its prey.

"This doesn't look good." Miroku said, backing away slightly.

"Why's he turning demon? Isn't tonight the new moon?" Sango cried out over Inuyasha's blood-curdling roar.

"Maybe it's the potion. That magician tricked Inuyasha! It's turning him into a monster!" Shippo's voice trembled with fear.

No sooner had the kitsune said that when demon Inuyasha's body pulsated again, once, twice, before the light brightened to a greater intensity. The trio closed their eyes to the light and by the time they'd opened them the light had faded away into nothing, leaving the hanyou, now human, lying face down on the floor, his pitch black hair spread around him like a halo.

Miroku approached the limp form carefully. He stared at the body and poked at one sweaty arm with the tip of his staff. The arm twitched. "He's alive!" the monk shouted triumphantly.

Sango ignored the monk's declaration as she rushed to her fallen friend's side. Gingerly picking him up she sat him up against the wall of the hut. Inuyasha was still trembling slightly, sweat covering his entire body. He half opened his eyes, revealing tired purple-black orbs to the trio around him.

"Are you ok Inuyasha?" Shippo asked, his voice coming out as a concerned whimper.

"Do I look ok to ya runt?" Obviously Inuyasha didn't feel that concern. Shippo scowled.

"At least you're still you." Miroku deadpanned, kneeling down to his friend's level. "You look normal again…well a normal _human_ that is." He commented, picking at strands of Inuyasha's black hair.

"What just happened?" Sango asked, troubled. "That light…what was it?"

"No idea." Miroku replied, sitting cross-legged again. "Inuyasha, what happened when you drank that potion?"

"I…" the human turned hanyou's voice came out as a rasp and he coughed. Sango, still holding onto her tired friend, motioned at Shippo to get a cup of water for him. Taking a few slow sips of the refreshing liquid Inuyasha cleared his throat and tried again. "I'm not sure…I felt this sudden heat at my chest and my throat clogged up. The next thing I knew I was floating, and my whole body hurt like hell, like something was being ripped off of me."

"You began turning into a demon. Into your full-fledged form." Sango offered.

Inuyasha shook his head tiredly. "I don't remember that. My heart was beating so fast I felt like I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was on fire." He shuddered at the memory. "Dammit, what was that potion!"

Sango turned to the monk, her eyes concerned. "Miroku…"

The monk shook his head. "We can't say yet what that potion did to him but seeing that he's still alive I'm guessing it's not life threatening. You should just sleep this out Inuyasha." He directed to the human-turned-hanyou. "I'll fill in Kaede-sama about this once she comes back. She may even know about this mystery magician of yours. Besides you did say this potion was to help you with Kagome right, so maybe the results, whatever they are, will show themselves once she's back." The monk shrugged and looked back at Sango. The demon slayer nodded, though still troubled. "I guess we should call it a night for now. Here Sango, I'll help." Together they lifted their tired friend and guided him to the mat that lay at the room's corner. Miroku helped him lie down as Sango wiped at his sweaty face with a cloth. Shippo crawled up to his now human friend's tired face and patted at his cheek. "You'll be ok Inuyasha." He whispered concernedly.

Inuyasha tiredly opened one eye to look at the kitsune. "Heh, I'm fine kid. I ain't gonna be put down by something like this." He mumbled the last part of the sentence as he dozed off into a deep sleep.

Sango watched the human-turned hanyou's chest rise and fall with each deep breath he took. She frowned as she dipped in the sweat soaked cloth into the water bowl. "We shouldn't have said those things Miroku." She spoke to the monk, who sat down next to her. "What if something were to happen to him because of this? It would be our fault for bringing it all up. What would Kagome-chan say!?"

"Calm down Sango." Miroku picked up the washcloth and squeezed the water out. He touched Inuyasha's forehead. It felt hot. He folded the cloth neatly over his forehead and brushed his wet bangs aside. "He's fine, he's alive and he's still here. I don't agree with what he did either but you know how stubborn he is. Besides I don't think that potion was intended to poison him. If it was, he'd be dead now." At Sango's alarmed look he rushed to reassure her. "Sango I wouldn't have let him drink it if I wasn't sure he wouldn't be harmed. Trust me. We should wait until he's back to his demon form before we can deduce anything. That magician guy did say the potion won't have any effect while he's human. So let morning come and we'll decide what course of action to take then ne?" He smiled cheerily at Sango who gave half a smile back and left to pour off the remaining water. Miroku watched Sango retreat before bringing his eyes back to his sleeping friend. Shippo was fast asleep beside him, snoring away in bliss, one hand scratching his stomach while the other clutched at Inuyasha's hair. Miroku smiled at the scene before looking out the window at the pitch black night sky. "I hope you know what you are doing Inuyasha." He couldn't help but sigh.

11111111

_Kagome felt her lungs burn and her legs scream in pain but she didn't stop running._

"_Inuyasha!" she cried out. "Inuyasha, where are you?"_

_Darkness surrounded her like a veil, thick and unyielding. Her eyes desperately tried to adjust to the lack of light but to no avail. She couldn't see a darn thing but she knew she had to keep running. If she stopped for even a second then she would lose him forever._

"_Inuyasha, where are you? Answer me!"_

_And then she saw him. Amidst the blanket of darkness, Inuyasha's face smiled at her serenely. "Inuyasha!" she gasped relieved and urged her legs to run faster towards her hanyou. But he wasn't a hanyou. He was human. The darkness around him draped across his shoulders in the form of his midnight black hair. His dog ears were gone. His eyes were dark purple, almost black._

_Kagome slowed down to a halt in front of him. "Inuyasha?" she whispered, uncertainly. "You're human?"_

_Inuyasha's smiled widened._

"_Why?"_

"_Why? Why do you ask?" Inuyasha asked, tilting his head slightly. "This is who I am Kagome. Don't you like me better this way?"_

"_What?" Kagome blinked._

"_I'm human Kagome. Full human!" The former-hanyou all but grinned. "Now I can finally be with you as a normal person!" he pulled her into a tight hug, still grinning._

"…_huh?"_

"_I love you Kagome! I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And now, as a human, I can stay by your side forever."_

_Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. Inuyasha was hugging her? Inuyasha _loved_ her? He was _happy_ to be human? As much as she wanted to relish the moment she couldn't help but think that something was off. "Inuyasha wha—_

_Inuyasha pulled back, clutching at her shoulders and beamed at her. "You like me like this better don't you Kagome? You like me better as a human right? This is who I'm meant to be!" Before Kagome could reply he continued. "I promise I'll make you the happiest woman on earth." Saying this he dipped his head down to kiss her._

"_Let go of my mate!"_

_The vicious snarl had Kagome and Inuyasha whipping their heads to the side, wide-eyed. Kagome sweatdropped. There stood her hanyou, but in his full demon form. His long silver hair whipped around him and his eyes, blood red and boiling blazed down upon them. He growled, his abnormally long fangs bared angrily. _

"_I-inuyasha!?" Kagome gasped. She looked back to the human who had his hands around her shoulders to the demon snarling a few feet away. "But…what…?"_

"_Get out of here filthy demon, Kagome doesn't want you." Human-Inuyasha spat, hugging Kagome closer._

_Demon-Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the intimate gesture. His hackles rose and he angrily ground out "Let. Go. Of. My. Mate!"_

"_Keh, why don't you make me then, dog-boy!" Human-Inuyasha sneered, obviously not affected by the threat._

_Kagome was, by now, genuinely confused. "Inuyasha what's going on?" She asked the human who was still clinging onto her. "Why are you…human here…and demon there?" She glanced over at the demon and visibly gasped as his eyes solely focused on her. The boiling red in his eyes simmered down to a molten pool of raw passion. His growl turned in to a purr as he held his hand out to her. "Mate." He whispered huskily and she felt herself leaning towards him, her hand reaching for his._

"_Don't Kagome!" human-Inuyasha tightened his grip. "Stay with me."_

"_But..." Kagome twisted around to see purple-black eyes pleading at her. "But he's YOU!"_

"_No he isn't!" Human-Inuyasha shook his head, scowling at the demon. "I'm human. He's nothing but a blood sucking demon. A monster. I can love you better than he can. Stay with me, Kagome."_

"_A monster?! What are you—_

"_Come Mate." Kagome turned to look at the demon who was still gazing at her, his hand patiently waiting. He took a step towards the couple._

"_Don't you dare!" Human-Inuyasha shouted and the demon growled, focusing back on him. "Kagome will stay with me!"_

"_My mate!" Demon-Inuyasha growled._

"_No she is my wife. Stay away from her!" Human-Inuyasha yelled back._

_Kagome brought her hands over her ears and shut her eyes, trying to block out the screaming and snarling. "Both of you…stop…"_

"_Mate stay with me! Give her back!"_

"_She's happier with me! She doesn't need you! Stay away!"_

"_My Mate!"_

"_My wife!"_

"_I said STOP!"_

Kagome snapped open her eyes and blinked at the sudden pink light around her. Gradually her eyes gained focus and she realized that all the pink was the underside of her comforter. She pulled down the thick blanket and sat up, looking around. She was on her bed, still in her night clothes, still at her house. The alarm on her bedside table read 5.a.m. _'It was all a dream.'_ she thought. _'What the hell?'_ Climbing out of bed she walked to her window to pull the curtains aside and pushed it open. The sun was yet to rise but she could make out the silhouette of the well-house. The cool breeze that wafted in eased the throbbing pain in her temple. She rubbed her forehead and eyes tiredly. _'What the hell was that dream?!'_

She looked back at the well-house, a slow sense of unease creeping up her spine.

'_Inuyasha…'_

111111111

The sun was not yet up but Sango was. She sighed for the umpteenth time that morning. She couldn't get any proper sleep last night. Too much excitement.

"Can't sleep?" The soft voice caught her attention and the slayer turned back to see Miroku emerging silently out of the hut.

Sango shook her head. "I keep seeing Inuyasha's face from last night in my head. I just hope he will be alright when he wakes up. I hate to think something bad happened to him because of what we provoked him to do."

Miroku nodded. "I feel the same way. But…he'll be fine. Don't worry." When he head Sango sigh unbelievingly he walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Sango. Honestly it can't be that bad. Bet you anything when the sun rises he'll be back to the annoying hanyou that we all know." He smiled down at her, albeit cheerfully.

Sango gave him a feeble smile in return. "Let's hope so." She let out another small sigh as Miroku took a seat beside her. For a few minutes there was a calm silence between the two as they gazed off into the slowly brightening horizon. And then Sango spoke "Kaede-sama did not return last night. It must have been late when she finished her duties."

Miroku nodded, fighting off a yawn. "Yes. I was thinking of going to pick her up. The next village is not that far." He was attacked by another yawn that threatened to dislocate his jaw. Rubbing his eyes tiredly he scowled "Damn my sleep is coming back to me."

Sango smiled softly at the somewhat cute gesture the monk displayed. "Why don't you go inside and sleep for some time then? I'll wake you up after a while if you want."

Miroku nodded, and then a naughty smirk spread across his lips. Schooling his features into an innocent look he shook his head. "Mmm I'd rather sleep here in your lap Sango my love." Saying so he promptly flopped down sideways onto the slayer's lap.

Sango spluttered in anger and embarrassment. "Miroku wha? Get off me!"

Miroku merely closed his eyes and shot her a goofy smile. "Don't wanna." He cooed and snuggled in further.

Sango's spine shot up straight. _'Did he just snuggle?!'_ A vein popped on her forehead as the aura around her turned murderous. "Miroku get off me if you want to live to see another day, NOW!"

"Oh admit it Sango." The monk rolled his head to look at the angry slayer with heavy lidded eyes. "You actually love it when I pay attention to you like this, don't you?" his smirk widened as a light dusting of pink spread across Sango's cheeks.

Sango felt her face grow hot. "A-are you nuts? There's n-no way I'd like this!" she spluttered out the obvious lie.

"You're lying." Which the monk seemed to notice.

"I am not!" But the slayer still denied it.

"Ah you look so cute when you blush Sango-chan~"

"I'm not blushing you stupid lech!"

"Oh my!"

The two froze and looked up (Miroku straining his neck from Sango's lap) to see Kaede standing in front of them, an obvious look of shock and embarrassment on her face. Sango 'eeped' as her blush deepened and she immediately pushed Miroku off of her lap, who rolled down the grass with an 'oof'. "K-kaede –sama, you're back!" She got to her feet, dusting her kimono.

Kaede chuckled amusingly. "Yes I'm back. I hope I didn't…interrupt anything?"

Sango shot Miroku an evil glare before replying. "Iie Kaede-sama, Miroku was just being a pervert as usual." Said pervert just rubbed his neck sheepishly from his post on the grass.

"But it's surprising to see you both up so early. Did something happen?" Kaede asked, turning to look at the monk who immediately turned serious.

"Actually yes, something did Kaede-sama." Kaede raised her eyebrows at the admission. "It's Inuyasha."

Kaede's eyes widened. "Inuyasha? Is he alright?"

"Oh yes he's fine." Miroku smiled cheerfully. "I guess."

"You guess?!"

"Well seeing as he drank a mysterious potion that turned him into a human sun –or demon sun, whatever—temporarily, gave him a small orgasm (cough) and drained him of all his energy for the whole night I'd say yeah, I guess he's fine." The monk finished, cheerful as ever.

Kaede blinked. Twice. Then turned to Sango, who was rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Sango…?"

"Forgive him Kaede-sama, apparently lack of sleep turns him crazy." At this the head priestess narrowed her eyes at the monk who grinned sheepishly. "Let's go inside. We'll fill you in on what happened last night." Sango continued, watching the rising sun's rays steadily creep towards the hut. "The sun's almost up and Inuyasha should be waking at any moment."

No sooner had the trio turned towards the small hut when an agonized scream ripped through the air. Three pairs of eyes widened in unison as they witnessed a half-asleep Shippo sail through the mat door of the hut and land on the grassy ground with a thud. And then there was silence.

Before Miroku broke it. "What the…?" he blinked twice.

"Shippo!" Sango exclaimed, running to the fox kit, who was sitting up and groggily rubbing his eyes.

"Sa'go?" The little demon spoke through his yawn, crawling into the slayer's arms. "Wha's going on?"

"I'm guessing you got a customized wake up call, courtesy of Inuyasha." Miroku commented, moving to the hut. "Speaking of whom, hey Inuyasha, what's with the scream? Saw a nightmare or something?" He moved to open the mat door.

"Don't come in!"

Miroku tensed, hand inches away from its target. "Inu…yasha?"

A muffled thud came from within, followed by what seemed like heavy footsteps and a swishing sound. The monk turned back to see three pairs of eyes, as confused as his own before turning back to the door. He suppressed a shriek of his own as he gaped at the blanket clad figure of what seemed to be his half-demon friend.

"Miroku." Said monk frowned. Was that a quiver in his voice? Did his dream scare him that badly? "It's morning right?"

The monk blinked. "Uh…yeah?"

"That big shiny ball up in the sky, that's the sun right?"

The monk blinked again. "Y-yeah?"

"That means that all this light around me, that's sunlight right?"

Miroku turned to look at the other three, who looked as worried as he was. "Inuyasha, what's wro—

"Well if the night has passed and it's morning and the sun's completely up and I'm drenched in sunlight then" The blanket was wrenched off and the four standing outside the hut gasped out loud, gaping at their companion as he pulled at his very dark, pitch black hair, his dark purple eyes gleaming in anger.

"Then why the fuck am I still HUMAN?!"

11111111111111111111111

Well that's that. Personally I'm not that impressed since I wrote this in a rush 'cause I realized that I had put this off for a very long time and I wanted to get this to you guys soon. See the things I do for y'all!

-gets glared at again-

Apparently not much.-sweatdrops-

But anyway, things will get interesting as the story unfolds (at least it does in my head!) so do stay tuned ne?

And review. That's what helps make things better. Remember, I have cookies -grins-

I'll have the next chap out before you even know it.-nice guy pose-


	3. Chapter 3

Told'cha I would have it out in no time -grins and winks-. Though it did end up taking some time after all -sweatdrop-

A big thanks to all my beautiful reviewers for their constant support. A special thanks to the guest reviewers since I can't PM you guys. Seriously, reviewers are the best. Group hug!

This chapter is dedicated to the lovely **AM78** as a thank you for leaving me such lovely detailed reviews, and also as an apology for not keeping my end of the promise. I'm truly sorry! My mom found out I'd been slacking on my project work for college and she threatened to burn down my Inuyasha poster if I didn't get to work pronto! I was left with no option really -cries- But I swear I will get back to your story asap! I just need to bring out my ninja skills so that she won't find out!

Anywho I'm done rambling now so ON WITH THE STORY!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyashaaaaaaaaaa! Why do I not own Inuyashaaaaaaaa! -cries-

Oh yeah, before I forgot, I think in the first chapter I mentioned Inuyasha turning human on the night of the _full_ moon. I'm so sorry! –sweatdrops- I got my facts wrong, but I've corrected it now. Inuyasha turns on the night of the new moon –sheepish smile-

**Warning: **Mild nudity at the end. Barely noticeable though. In fact, you'd probably bash my head in for not making it more detailed -chuckles-

-O.o.o.O.O.o.o.O-

**CHAPTER 3:**

The sake swished from within its confines as the old magician lifted the bottle to his lips to take another swig.

It was barely morning but he had no qualms about getting drunk so early in the day. Tokichi sighed to himself as he let the taste of the divine drink roll across his taste buds before swallowing the gulp. Setting his bottle down, he played with a blade of grass near his feet as he watched the sun's rays light up the small hill he sat on. The semi golden light reminded him of the two golden orbs that had looked at him confusedly last night when he had thrust the small bottle into clawed hands. Tokichi grinned and wondered what his new found test specimen was doing. Had he taken the potion? Or had he chickened out? He seemed like someone who valued his pride so the odds were he had taken it. The magician's grin grew into a chuckle as he thought of the effects of the potion. Should he go visit him now, or should he wait till it was certain the hanyou wouldn't come after his bald head?

Deciding that he had nothing better to do that day and considering his sake was almost over, Tokichi made up his mind to pay his new found hanyou friend a visit.

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

Said hanyou, however now human, was currently trying to resist pulling out all of his beautiful pitch black hair. And apparently failing at it.

"Why? How?!" Inuyasha all but wailed, clutching at his head and plopping down right in front of Kaede's hut. "How could this happen?! I'm human! How could I be human!" He began to rock back and forth, still holding his head. Shippo climbed down from his post on Sango's arm and crawled up to the fallen hanyou…er…human. He poked at his shoulder gently, turning to the two behind him when he got no response.

Miroku and Sango were at a loss of words, blinking once, twice. It was Kaede who broke the silence.

"What happened last night Inuyasha?" When she didn't get any answer from rocking human-turned-hanyou, she tried again. No answer. Sighing at Shippo who had resumed his poking, she turned to look at the still speechless monk and slayer. "Will someone tell me what happened here?"

Sango broke out of her trance and cleared her throat. "Inuyasha he…he drank something…last night. A potion." At Kaede's raised eyebrow she elaborated, narrating the previous night's events.

Kaede frowned, turning back to the miserable being in front of her hut. "He willingly drank something given to him by an unknown person?"

"We tried to talk him out of it, but he was stubborn." Sango continued. "When he transformed, we thought it was just the influence of the new moon as usual. Who would've thought…"

"That he would lose his demon powers altogether." Miroku sighed, turning to Inuyasha, who was still rocking on the floor and seemed to be…sniffling. Was he crying?

"Inuyasha are you…crying!?" All pairs of eyes turned to the former hanyou, who had stopped rocking and had raised his head just enough for everyone to see the pinpricks of tears at the corners of his eyes. Shippo stopped his poking and blanched, along with the others. Inuyasha never cried.

"Er…" Miroku began, not knowing if he should laugh or sympathize. "Inuyasha relax, it can't be that ba—

In a second Inuyasha was on him, shaking the monk by his robes. "HOW CAN YOU SAY IT'S NOT BAD MIROKU!? I'M HUMAN! I'M FUCKING HUMAN! NO FANGS! NO CLAWS! NO POWERS! I'M FRIGGING HUMAN!"

Miroku felt his teeth hitting together from the force with which Inuyasha was shaking him. "I-inu-u-ya-a-sh-a I c-can-n s-se-e th-tha-at-t." he tried to convey but his hysteric friend was on roll.

"HOW CAN YOU ASK ME TO RELAX HUH? HOW CAN YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A HUMAN…ah!"

The monk raised an eyebrow at that. The former hanyou sweatdropped. "Sorry. Forgot." He mumbled.

Sango stepped forward and coaxed Inuyasha to let go of Miroku's robes. "Inuyasha Miroku's right. You need to calm down and we need to figure out what happened." She turned to the others. "If the loss of his demon powers was due to the potion, then we have no choice but to find this magician and have him reverse the spell."

Kaede and Miroku nodded. "That seems to be the only choice." Turning to the dejected former hanyou, Miroku asked. "Do you have any idea where we can find this guy?"

Inuyasha shook his head, despaired. "He just popped out of nowhere. I didn't even sense him until he was right next to me. And with me in this state, it's impossible to track him down. He could be anywhere."

The group fell silent for a few seconds. Shippo broke it this time. "So…does that mean Inuyasha is stuck human?"

Miroku immediately grabbed at Inuyasha's haori as the latter lunged at the kitsune, growling. Shippo 'eeped' and scrambled behind Sango. Miroku sighed.

"Inuyasha, leave Shippo alone, he didn't mean it. And Shippo" he turned to the cowering kitsune. "Keep your comments to yourself if you don't want to get killed, just because he's turned human doesn't mean he'll go easy on you." Letting go of Inuyasha once he'd deemed him calm enough Miroku turned to the two ladies. "Sango, you and I will go look for this magician. Kaede-sama, you and Shippo please stay inside with Inuyasha. It would be better if he doesn't leave the village in his current state."

"You can't keep me here!" Inuyasha fumed. "I need to get to that old fart and kick his wrinkled ass until he agrees to turn me ba—

The former hanyou yelped as once again the golden staff landed hard on his crown. He clutched his aching head at glared at Miroku, who glared back, one eyebrow twitching irately. "Quit whining you idiot, we're going to bring the guy here anyway! Now shut up and get inside the house where you'll be safe."

Cursing under his breath and turning his glare onto Shippo who was snickering at him, Inuyasha turned to stomp into the hut. However before he could take a step there was a loud 'pop' and a puff of smoke erupted out of nowhere. The group turned to see a small wrinkly old man emerging from the smoke, leering at them.

"Hiya kid." He grinned at Inuyasha whose eyes went wide.

"YOU!" The former hanyou pointed at the newcomer, face turning purple with anger. In two strides he had grabbed the little geezer by his rags and up to his eye level. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" he bellowed.

Tokichi chuckled. "I ain' done nothin' sonny, 'twas th' potion tha' did th' job."

"And what job was that exactly?!"

The old magician shrugged. "Ya ask'd me fer a sol'tion ta yer probl'ms, I gave ya 'un. Ya shud be thankf'l lad."

Inuyasha growled, clutching at his hair again. "Does this look like a solution? You took my damn demon powers away ya old faggot!"

"I didn' take aw'y nothin', I ain' tha' good a magic'an ta strip a dem'n o' his powers. Now cudja be kind enoug' ta let me down so I cud take a gud luk atcha?"

Inuyasha felt his eyebrow twitch as he raised a fist to pummel the old man but Miroku stopped him. "Inuyasha wait, hitting him won't solve your problem."

Still in his grasp, Tokichi nodded. "The brat's righ'. Glad ther's a sens'ble 'un 'ere." Inuyasha keh'd at him and dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground.

Miroku stepped forward. "Tokichi-san isn't it? I'm Miroku, Inuyasha's friend. I'm a monk."

Tokichi scoffed. "Coulda fool'd me wha' wiv them pervert'd though's runnin' in yer head."

Miroku blanched. Behind him Inuyasha and Shippo snickered, while Sango covered her smile with her hand and Kaede rolled her eyes. "I told you he can read minds." Inuyasha smirked.

"Faces boy."

"Ya whatever."

Miroku cleared his throat and gave a sheepish smile. "Aha ya, but despite that I really am a monk. But that's not important I guess. Please tell us, why did the potion turn Inuyasha human?"

Tokichi shrugged again. "I can't say fer sure 'ow th' potion will work ya know. It depen's up'n th' person takin' it. Like I sa'd, 'twas th' sol'tion he ask'd fer."

"But what good is going to come out of turning Inuyasha human?" Sango asked.

Tokichi turned to the slayer, his saucer eyes roaming over her, and leered. "Well aren'cha a cutie. Wha's yer name lassie?"

Sango's eyebrow twitched. _'Cutie!?'_ I'm Sango, a demon slayer." Emphasis on 'slayer'.

Tokichi chuckled. "Sango ey? Guess she ain' th' one ya talk'd abou'." He directed at Inuyasha. "Figures why she ain' got th' hots fer ya." He glanced at Miroku, who raised an eyebrow. Sango blushed and spluttered. "L-like I said, about Inuyasha turning human…"

The old magician sighed and picked at his ear. "Mayb' cuz this gal o' his's a 'uman, so he cud und'stand her bett'r." he shrugged. "It dosn' mean ya lost yer dem'n powers sonny they're jus…Hey." He turned to the former hanyou. "Were ya alone wh'n ya woke up?"

Inuyasha frowned. "Shippo was with me, before I kicked him out." He smirked when the kitsune gave him an ugly look.

"Ther' was no'un else?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "Was there supposed to be?"

Tokichi's eyes went wide, well wider than usual. "Ah. So th' poti'n had a side eff'ct ey?"

The former hanyou raised an eyebrow, scowling. "What do you mean side effect?"

Tokichi grinned and shook his head. "This's gott'n more int'rstin' than I though'. Lis'n boy." He looked up at Inuyasha. "Ya hav'n lost yer powers."

Inuyasha blinked. "I haven't? But…but I'm human." He turned to look at the others, who seemed confused as well.

"Wha' I'm sayin' is, though yer hum'n now, it doesn't mean ya'l stay hum'n. Yer dem'n powers havn' vanish'd, they're…somewher' else."

The former hanyou looked at the small magician as if he'd sprouted another head. "Whaddya mean somewhere else? Are you playing with me ya old fart!?"

Tokichi just chuckled. "Ya'll know soon enough' kiddo. O' boy, I sher wish I coulda see yer face wh'n it happ'ns."

"When what happens dammit!?" But the magician had already turned away from the group.

"I'm dun talkin'. I'll see ya kiddo. 'Ave fun nw." With a grin and a snap of his fingers, Tokichi disappeared in another puff of smoke.

Inuyasha growled and punched the ground at his feet, immediately hissing at the pain in his knuckles. Obviously his human body did not tolerate pain the way his hanyou body did. He let out a string of curses as he looked at his abused skin. "Dammit what the hell is going on here?"

Miroku placed a hand to his chin, seemingly deep in thought. "Tokichi said that your powers had not vanished, simply that they had been displaced. What could that mean?"

"Could that be the light we saw around his body last night?" Sango gasped, eyes wide. "You know, when he was hovering above us? He was transitioning into his full demon state at that time."

"Yes but what did that light mean? We didn't see it go out of his body or something. Could it be suppressed inside him somehow?" Miroku countered, still rubbing his chin.

"But is it truly possible for Inuyasha's weak human blood to suppress his demon side?" Kaede asked.

"That's a point." Sango nodded. "Or maybe the potion gave more strength to his human side. Tokichi said that since Kagome was human, the potion turned Inuyasha human as well so he could better understand her."

"Hmm that could be another explanation." Miroku nodded slowly, looking over at his former hanyou friend still kicking at the place where the drunken magician had disappeared. "So we just need to find a way to get his demon back up again?"

"How do we go about doing that?" Sango asked.

"The last time Inuyasha's demon side came up was when he was near death, remember?" Shippo piqued.

"So then we simply beat him half to death huh?" Miroku's eyes lit up and he grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Allow me the honor."

"The honor to do what?" The monk jumped a foot at the sudden voice at his shoulder. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the sheepish monk. "You were gonna beat me up weren't you?"

Miroku gulped and chuckled nervously. "What? No! What gave you that idea?"

"I heard you guys talking idiot."

"…Oh."

"Keh. As if you can beat me. Even as a human I can kick your ass monk." Inuyasha smirked, leering at his friend. "Wanna try your luck?"

Miroku let out a dry laugh. "Er…no thanks. I'm good. Hehe."

"Maybe this will all get resolved once Kagome gets back." Kaede said. "The potion reacted to Inuyasha's feelings for Kagome so maybe once she's back things will turn back to normal."

"No!" Inuyasha exclaimed, wide-eyed. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What do you mean no?" Sango asked.

"I mean Kagome can't see me like this! What do you think she'll say if she finds out I took something from a stupid magician without a second thought?" Inuyasha shook his head. "And if she learns that I did it because of her, she'll blame herself for the whole thing! No, I can't let her feel that way, I have to turn back to normal before she gets back."

The whole gang gaped silently at the former hanyou. "Wow Inuyasha, I guess the potion is working. You are actually sounding human, considering Kagome-sama's feelings like that." Miroku grinned.

Inuyasha felt his cheeks grow hot. "I-I…shut up monk! I just didn't want her to sit me again for doing this that's all." He huffed and folded his hands defensively.

"Sure." The monk obviously didn't believe him. Inuyasha growled.

"Well whatever it is, let's figure it out after breakfast ne? All this excitement has got me hungry." Sango proposed before her two idiotic friends would start another fight. "Come on Kaede-sama, you must be famished."

"Alright! Let's eat!" Shippo shouted and raced to the hut. "Inuyasha, I'm calling the first bowl."

"The hell you are runt." Forgetting his predicament at the mention of food, Inuyasha raced after the kitsune, cursing his human body for its slowness. Miroku watched his friend run off, chuckling before looking in the general direction of the forest, and Kagome's well.

"I wonder how Kagome-sama would react to all this." He couldn't help but

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

Five hundred years into the future, the raven haired school girl sneezed.

"Bless you dear." Mama Higurashi handed her daughter a napkin before plucking a fallen leaf from her school uniform. Kagome thanked her mom before dabbing her nose with the tissue and pocketing it. It was late afternoon but there was a light cool breeze blowing outside, calming down the heat a little. Both mother and daughter were standing by the old well in the well house, a monstrous yellow bag propped by its side.

"Do you have to leave already dear? You did say you would be here for four more days." Mama Higurashi asked.

"I know Mama but I can't shake off this weird feeling ever since I had that dream this morning. I just need to make sure he's ok." Kagome said, heaving her heavy bag onto her shoulder with a grunt. "I promise I'll be back in time for my test. I've taken all my books with me. Hell if all goes well I'll probably be back tonight. But don't wait up for me though."

Her mother nodded. "Ok honey, I can understand you being worried but do make sure you get your work done ok. You don't want to flunk this test."

"I know." Kagome sighed.

"Oh, and bring Inuyasha along next time. It's been a while since I last saw him. Souta's starting to bug me to get you to bring him over." Kagome smiled back at her mother. "I'll see what I can do. Bye Mama. Love you."

Giving her mom a loose hug she hopped down the well and sighed as her body got enveloped in the blue light, only one thought running through her mind.

'_Inuyasha, please be ok.'_

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

Inuyasha had claimed that he wanted the problem resolved before Kagome came back. But in all honesty, he didn't know where to _start_!

"Maybe I really should try beating him up." His eyebrow twitched at the monk's comment.

"You say one more comment about trashing me and I'll shove these chopsticks up your ass so deep you'll need a shovel to get them out monk!" Miroku immediately raised his arms in surrender, chuckling nervously. "I was kidding, kidding! No need for violence now my friend."

Inuyasha keh'd and turned back to his lunch. The morning had been uneventful to say the least. They had tried some of Kaede's spells and a few of Miroku's ofudas to turn the former hanyou back to his original state but nothing seemed to work. And despite Inuyasha shunning Miroku's half-assed comment about beating him up he was seriously considering going for it. Maybe once his body was at its limits it would revert back. Inuyasha sighed. No, if what Tokichi said about his demon powers not being with him anymore was true then he doubted Miroku's plan would work that easily. Besides the stupid magician had mentioned something about him not turning back unless he resolved his own feelings. But what the hell was he supposed to resolve, with half of him gone like this? Gah, his head was beginning to ache.

"Hey how about we make him fight a demon, without the Tessaiga? Then his demon powers will rise up right? It worked last time."

Inuyasha felt his eyebrow twitch again. And now he had to deal with these stupid idiots who called themselves his friends and their ridiculous suggestions. Seriously, were they trying to turn him back, or kill him!?

"I think he would die after the first blow Shippo." Sango answered for her friend. "And that would defeat the whole purpose, we can't risk that. Besides, the last time he changed without Tessaiga, he was half-demon to begin with."

"Oh…right."

Well Sango had made a valid point with her statement but she didn't have to bruise his ego in the process. Inuyasha sniffed, sulking. He could take on any demon anytime, human or not. Keh.

Kaede looked over at the seemingly pouting former hanyou and her old eyes went soft. "Worry not Inuyasha. If we go by what ye said about Kagome coming back after four days then we have some time. We will find a solution by then."

Inuyasha turned to look at the old priestess. "I guess." He let out a sigh. That's right, he had some time before Kagome's return, there was no need to rush.

But as the saying goes, fate can be a bitch sometimes.

"Ufff!" Kagome grunted as she heaved her gigantic bag and dropped it onto the ground by the old well. Lifting herself up with the help of the vines lining the well's insides, she wiped at her brow and looked around. It was eerily quiet. She frowned, already realizing that something was up. Inuyasha had always, _always_ come to the clearing the second he got a wind of her scent through the well. He never missed a chance to admonish her for running off home. And considering the situation the last time she'd left, she was most certain that he would be there to chew her off. So finding herself gazing at a hanyou-free clearing, she felt an unsettling feeling in her stomach. "He's not here." She whispered to no one in particular. "Could he be…" her eyes widened and she immediately shook her head, dispelling her thoughts. "No Kagome, he's fine. He must be sulking somewhere, that's it." Nodding firmly at her reasoning she grabbed her bag and raced towards Kaede's hut.

Which was probably a bad idea. Seriously, who in their right mind would run fifty yards with a 15 kilo backpack on their shoulder? Kagome resisted the urge to slap herself as she heaved in gulps of air, hands on her knees as she panted. Never before had she appreciated the fact that Inuyasha had always helped carry her bag whenever she came back. Dammit, where was her hanyou when she needed him!?

Getting her bearings together, she looked up and smiled in relief when she spotted Kaede's hut a few feet in front of her. The sun was almost at the horizon now, causing the sky to take on a beautiful golden pink hue. A cool breeze floated around her, playing with her bangs and Kagome felt a smile tug at her lips. Despite the obligations she had in her own world she always felt good about coming back here. Gripping the straps of her bag she dragged it towards the hut, stopping suddenly when she heard Inuyasha's voice float through the door. He sounded…fine. And normal. Just like his usual self. Kagome blinked, then blushed. She had gotten worked up for nothing. All over a stupid dream! And here Inuyasha was, fine as he could ever be. Kagome did slap herself this time. Talk about stupid, she glared at the ground. She wondered if she could hightail it out of there without him noticing that she'd been back but then realized that he could sniff her out. This caused her to frown. If Inuyasha was well, then why hadn't he come to the clearing when she'd arrived? Had he not smelt her presence? Too caught up in her thoughts, she didn't hear the straw-mat door swish to the side as her hanyou friend stepped out.

Inuyasha was still telling Miroku off for yet another snide comment about his lack of demon powers when he felt the presence of someone before him and he looked up. Immediately the words died in his throat and his purple-black eyes went wide. "K-kagome?" he choked out, regretting it immediately when said girl lifted her head to look at him.

Kagome heard her name being called out by a strained voice and looked up to see her hanyou gaping at her. "Inuyasha!" she called out cheerfully but her smile dropped when she realized that her hanyou was…well…not a hanyou. She blinked. "Inu…yasha?"

Inuyasha felt cold sweat break out from every single pore in his body. For once, he was not happy to see the miko from the future. Seriously, didn't she say she wouldn't be back for a few days? Can't she keep her word dammit!? He watched as Kagome opened and closed her mouth several times, still staring at him, and he mirrored her actions, not knowing what to say. He looked on as the girl gaped at him and then at the sun still lingering on the sky, much like he had done that morning.

"Inu…yasha…wha…?" Kagome blinked her eyes several times as if to clear her vision but it still stayed the same. Inuyasha was standing before her, as human as he could ever be. Before she could say anything else she saw Miroku, Sango and Shippo poke their heads out of the hut. "Kagome-chan!" Sango exclaimed, she and Shippo mimicking Inuyasha and gaping at her while Miroku just shook his head and sighed.

"Kagome-sama, I see you're back." The monk smiled cheerily at the still shocked school girl. "Did anyone say you have very bad timing?"

Lifting a shaking hand Kagome didn't register what the monk said as she pointed it at the former hanyou, who was now looking at anything but her. "He's…he's…"

"Human?" Miroku offered. "Yes, I'm afraid so." He eyed the swaying girl wearily. "Er…perhaps you can come inside the hut Kagome-sama and we could try to explain—

But Kagome didn't hear the rest of his sentence as she felt the blood rush to her head, remnants of her dream floating through her mind. The last thing she heard before hitting the ground was the startled shout of her name from the former hanyou's lips.

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

The first thing Kagome saw when she opened her eyes were two wide dark purple orbs staring down at her worriedly. She blinked, then shrieked and slapped the owner of those orbs. Hard.

Fifteen minutes later, Inuyasha was still nursing his tender cheek as he sent a glare to the school girl who was intently listening to Sango and Miroku. "Stupid wench." He muttered, scowling.

Kagome let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding when the slayer and the monk finished recounting the events of the day to her. She looked over at Inuyasha, who was still sulking and nursing his cheek. Without another word, she got up, trudged over to the former hanyou and bonked him hard on the head.

"OW! What the hell!?" Inuyasha didn't have time to finish yelling before he felt his hair being tugged and his face turned towards the angry miko's.

"What the hell were you thinking Inuyasha!?" Kagome all but snarled. She hadn't meant to hit him so hard but seeing her dream come partly true in front of her seriously creeped her out. "What made you act so foolishly?"

"Hey! I ain't done nothing foolish!"

Kagome scoffed. "Yeah, 'cause meeting up with a strange magician in the middle of the night and accepting a potion from him that will turn you into a human for maybe, I don't know, _the rest of your life_ is a very clever thing to do indeed." Inuyasha scowled at the sarcastic remark. "Honestly, what the hell made you do something so stupid?"

Thankfully his friends had left out the part that actually led to Inuyasha wanting to take the potion when they retold the story to Kagome, which was a good thing since Inuyasha didn't think he could face the future miko if she'd known the reason why he did what he did. So Inuyasha just sat there and scowled, refusing to tell Kagome the whole truth. Instead, he politely told her to "Fuck off, it's my life. I'll do what I want with it. Keh."

Kagome felt her blood boil. Here she was, concerned and confused about what was happening to the man she secretly loved and he was still being as much an ass as he was that morning. She felt her hand trembling around the lock of black hair she still had in her grasp. "I can't believe you." She whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

Inuyasha frowned at her tone, looking down to see that she was trembling slightly, eyes covered by her bangs. "Ka…gome?"

"I was so worried…that something might have happened to you…and I rushed over here…" Inuyasha felt his heart clench her admission. She was worried about him? He almost peed in his pants however when Kagome looked up with an angry fire in her eyes. "AND YOU TELL ME TO FUCK OFF!? INUYASHA YOU STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID!"

"Ow! Kagome! Stop! Youch!" Every word was accentuated with a hit to the head as the miko continued to pour her wrath on the poor former hanyou, completely forgetting about the rest of her friends who were watching the spectacle.

"Ah, can't you feel the love!" Miroku sighed, dabbing at a fake tear.

"I'd call it murderous intent though." Shippo deadpanned, wincing in sympathy when Inuyasha got another hit.

"Wait Kagome-chan." Sango intervened, causing Kagome to pause in her beating. "You said you were worried that something had happened to Inuyasha. Something like what?"

Kagome blushed lightly as the attention of everyone in the hut focused on her. She let go of Inuyasha as she fumbled with her skirt. "I…I had a weird dream. Something about Inuyasha turning human, just like this. It was…really weird, and I thought that something might have happened. It sounds silly but it just kept bugging me all day and I just needed to make sure he was ok…" the girl trailed off meekly, the blush fully covering her cheeks now.

Inuyasha felt the same unfamiliar something clench at his heart again. She really had been worried about him. And she'd come back to make sure that he was ok. He felt giddy with happiness and couldn't stop a goofy grin from making its way onto his face. He didn't know why but the thought that Kagome came back for him made him really, _really_ happy. It was strange because she'd always come back for him in the past, but this was the first time he felt so giddy with happiness because of it.

A cough caught his attention and he turned to see Miroku smirk at him, which abruptly caused his grin to vanish and a scowl to take its place. Great, now he'd have to endure more teasing from the monk. Oh joy.

"I see." Kaede decided to speak. "So ye had a strange dream concerning Inuyasha, a dream that eerily came true."

"Well" Kagome interrupted. "It didn't completely come true." She turned to look at Inuyasha, who was frowning at down at her.

"What do you mean?" Sango asked.

"The dream that I saw, it was not just about Inuyasha turning human. That was just one part."

There was silence for a few seconds as everyone looked at the future miko. "And what was the other part, Kagome-sama?" Miroku questioned.

Kagome peeled her eyes away from a confused Inuyasha and turned to look at the monk. Before she could say anything further there was a sudden explosion outside and several screams rang through the sky. "What the!?" Inuyasha sprang to his feet and rushed out the hut, followed by the others. The gang gaped at the thick cloud of smoke and dust that lingered in the air, fogging up their vision. They could however see several figures running amok and familiar cries of "Demon!" and "Run for your lives!" could be heard.

"It's a demon attack! Sango let's go!" Miroku cried out rushing to the scene. Sango quickly followed with her Hiraikotsu, not bothering to change into her battle costume. "Kagome-chan, stay in the hut with Inuyasha and the others!" she instructed over her shoulder.

"Hai Sango-chan!" Kagome nodded, pulling a furious Inuyasha back into the hut. "Kaede-sama! Shippo-chan! Hurry inside!"

"Wha-what are you doing Kagome! Let go!" Inuyasha yelled furiously, fighting against the schoolgirl's surprisingly strong hold. "I have to go help them!"

"There's nothing you can do when you're in this state Inuyasha!" Kagome grunted. "Just stay put here! I'll go help them out."

Another explosion and a furious cry of "Hiraikotsu!" drew their attention back outside. The dust fog had cleared up and they were able to see the demon, a creature that resembled a gigantic praying mantis. It was surprisingly fast, dodging Sango's boomerang before taking a swipe at her, which she narrowly missed. Miroku immediately came to her rescue, turning his Kazana onto the demon but it jumped out of his reach before spraying a weird substance out of his mouth onto his exposed hand, blocking the wind tunnel. Miroku cried out, the acid burning through his robes and flesh and fell forward, clutching his injured hand. "Miroku!" Sango cried out, retrieving her weapon and rushing to his side as the demon landed a few feet before them, ready to launch another mouthful of acid. A sacred arrow whizzed by as Kaede joined the fight, but the demon merely dodged it again and swiped at her, knocking her off the feet. Shippo immediately transformed into a ball and caught her, cushioning her impact.

Inuyasha tugged at the restraining arms around him but Kagome tightened her hold. "No Inuyasha! You'll get killed!"

"Dammit Kagome, if I don't go _they'll_ get killed!" The demon was a small fry but they were at a disadvantage due to its incredible speed and Miroku's injury. Sango was trying her best to catch up to it but it was too fast, even for her boomerang. If only Inuyasha had his demon powers now!

The demon heard Inuyasha's shout and shifted its attention to the quarrelling pair. Its large red eyes gleamed as they focused on the jewel shards hanging around Kagome's neck and it lunged for her, but was stopped by Sango's Hiraikotsu. But instead of dodging it this time, it swatted it back at her, knocking the slayer off her feet with her own weapon.

"Sango-chan!" Kagome cried out. Reaching for her bow hurriedly and knocking Inuyasha down in the process, she ran towards the demon. She strung her arrow and shot it, aiming for the demon's head, but it easily dodged her attack and sprayed at her. Kagome jumped back, missing the acid but was caught unaware by another spray that immediately followed the first. Hissing at the burn on her leg she tripped on her injured feet and landed on her butt with an "Ufff!"

"Wha?" Inuyasha sprang to his feet in time to see Kagome fall and the demon lunge at her. "Shit!" He immediately ran towards her, already realizing that he wouldn't make it due to his human body. He willed his legs to run faster, swearing to tear them off if Kagome got hurt. He was only a few feet away, but the demon was already at her side, its poisonous mouth mere inches away from her startled face. He watched as Kagome clenched her eyes shut, her lips screaming his name. "Fuck!"

All of a sudden there was a sudden cry of agony and Inuyasha found himself drenched in a warm sticky liquid. Panicking for a second that it might be Kagome's blood, he wiped it from his eyes and looked down, only to find that it was not red but green in color, and had a very foul stench. Lifting his head he saw that Kagome was still on the ground, eyes still clenched shut and he immediately rushed to her side. "Kagome! Are you ok?" The miko nodded and stared up at him, eyes wide in confusion and panic. "Inuyasha? What happened? The demon!?"

A pained shriek caught their attention and they looked up to see the giant mantis stumbling back, its now empty sockets covered by the same green liquid. Inuyasha looked around to see his friends still at the ground and staring at the blind demon as it thrashed about above them. If all of his friends were still down then what the hell attacked the demon?

"Inuyasha!" Kagome's strangled cry jolted his attention back as the demon blindly lunged in his direction. Inuyasha drew out Tessaiga but before he could swing the sword he saw the demon get split cleanly in half, more green blood spurting out of its broken body. The two pieces fell to the ground with a 'Thud', dust rising up at the impact. The group stared as the creature's limbs twitched once, twice, before it went completely still.

"What in the world!?" Inuyasha blinked incredulously, still holding on his sword. Kagome just shook her head, equally baffled. A few feet away, Miroku and Sango sat supporting each other, both wearing the same confused expression, similar to the one worn by Kaede and Shippo as they sat heaving by the hut. The dust slowly settled down and a flash of silver caught the group's eyes, focusing their gaze on a familiar looking figure. Their mouth went slack and their eyes went wide in recognition and incredulous surprise as they gaped at the figure standing upon the mangled remains of the demon.

"Is that...?"

"No way…!"

"That's…!"

There was sudden flurry of movement as the figure landed gracefully in front of the former hanyou and the miko from the future, long silver hair wrapping around its naked body like a cloak, bare except for the string of purple beads lining its neck. The crimson hues of the setting sun reflected off of its blood red eyes as they narrowed dangerouly onto Inuyasha's frozen form before turning to Kagome, who was equally frozen. A smirk made its way slowly through its lips, revealing one large fang as its eyes narrowed sensually, blue pupils darkening in desire. "Mate." It purred out, holding out one clawed hand towards her.

Kagome blinked a few times at the outstretched hand then turned her head slowly to gape at the slightly trembling human Inuyasha standing by her side. She then turned to the front to gape at the full demon Inuyasha standing before her in all his naked glory, long silver hair barely saving his modesty and smirking in a way that made her inner core shiver.

She turned to the right again. Human Inuyasha.

She turned back to the front. Demon Inuyasha.

Right. Human.

Front. Demon.

...

There was silence for a few seconds.

Followed by a thud.

Since for the second time that day, Kagome felt her consciousness go bye-bye.

-O.o.o.O.O.o.o.O-

...I'm almost afraid to ask how it turned out!

Gomen if the chapters are turning out to be too long, but I kinda need them to be that way. This one has come to around 25 pages! Yeah I know, that's abnormally long -nods head- but I try to keep my chapter length under 30 pages usually. So I guess I'm doing good so far. -grins- . Besides I already have the story mapped out in my head. And now that Inuyasha's other side has also caught up with the gang things are gonna get reeaally interesting -rubs hands in excitement-.

So please don't forget to review! Despite what I said earlier I'd really like to know what you think. Was it good? Bad? Terrible? Am I gonna get bitch-slapped? I NEED TO KNOW! -shakes random reader-.

So review ne? -turns on puppy dog eyes-

Oh and the next chapter might take a while since I have college work to catch up to. But I'll try to have it out asap -thumbs up-

Until next time then lovely people! Ja!

Kaijuu signing off.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Yosh! I finally managed to get this chapter out! (pumps fist in the air). I know I promised to get this out last week but college has been a bitch, (still is, grumble!), and I couldn't find time to appropriately finish this one. Sorry if this chapter seems a little bleak, I had thought up many different ways to write it and I may have messed it up a little (sweatdrop). But this is an important chapter nonetheless and I hope you will enjoy it too!

On a side note, I have drawn Demon Inuyasha from the previous chapter, when he stands in front of Kagome. I actually drew it for a reviewer to help them visualize that scene better. It didn't come out exactly as I intended since I drew it in kind of a rush but if you are interested anyway here is the link:

art/Demon-Inuyasha-364821895?q=gallery%3Akumochan46&qo=1

I hope that link works. If it doesn't, let me know.

Well that's that. Thanks to all who reviewed and liked the story, you guys have driven me to finish it with your love and ahem, death threats (grins). Special thanks to the guest reviewers since I can't PM you guys. Seriously, make an account already!

Ok I'm done rambling here. Please go enjoy the newest chapter. Drum roll please!...what do you mean no drumroll? I need a flashy entrance!

Ah phooey, I'll use my usual one. ON WITH THE STORY!

**Disclaimer:** Nope. Don't own it. (sigh)

**Warning: **Hear them alarm bells ringing? No? Of course not, cause this chapter's clean. (grins and gets glared at by readers). Er…did I say something wrong?

* * *

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

**CHAPTER 4:**

When Kagome had secretly wished to be the center of Inuyasha's undivided attention this was not what she'd had in mind.

The modern day miko sat on the floor of Kaede's hut, sweating profusely as she purposefully tried to ignore the killing intent coming from either side of her. Human-Inuyasha sat on her right while his demon counterpart was on her left and her threat of sitting them both six feet under was the only thing that prevented them from lunging at each other with feral battle cries. Honestly, one would think that coming from the same body they would learn to get along well. She thought she would melt down to nothing from the intense heat of their glaring contest. If this kept up Kagome might just end up murdering people, starting with the two sitting beside her.

She looked up and immediately caught the amused smirk that Miroku didn't bother to hide. That imbecile, he was enjoying this! Huffing, she turned away from him to see Sango give her a look akin to sympathy. At least someone knew how she felt. A whimper caught her attention and she saw Shippo look at her teary eyed, his bottom lip quivering. Poor thing, the current situation prevented him from hoping onto her lap as usual for fear of having his tail bitten off by her new found demon bodyguard. Kagome sighed. Somewhere in the small hut she heard Kaede move about as she prepared lunch.

Lunch. It was afternoon already. The morning had been a big blur of confusion and revelation of feelings that left Kagome stupefied, embarrassed and highly frustrated with the turn of events. She peeked a glance at Human Inuyasha, then turned to look at Demon Inuyasha. Both still blatantly ignored her as they murdered each other through their eyes. Kagome sighed as she recollected the morning's events. She'd finally met the lunatic old man responsible for all the chaos around her and her heart had not been put to ease at what he'd said about Inuyasha's…condition.

_**~That morning~**_

_Kagome groaned lightly, announcing her arrival back into the world of consciousness. She blinked her eyes open and almost screamed when she saw three pairs of the same organ staring down at her. That was all she saw before something orange and furry sprang onto her face._

"_Kagome! You're awake!"_

_Kagome carefully peeled off the kitsune from her face and dropped him onto her lap. "Yes Shippo-chan I am." She smiled at him before turning to the other two occupants. "Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, are you both alright?" she turned to Sango. "Weren't you hit by Hiraikotsu? Are you ok?"_

_Sango waved off her concern. "I'm fine, it wasn't a deadly hit. Kaede-sama patched me up real good. Miroku's fine too see?" She lifted the monk's bandaged hand._

_Miroku winced at the pressure on his injury and gingerly pulled his hand back. "Yes but I can't use the Kazana for two days. You should be careful too Kagome-sama, your leg can be a little sore for a couple of days." He pointed at Kagome's similarly bandaged leg._

_Kagome nodded. "I should thank Kaede-sama. Where is she by the way?"_

"_Outside hoping to prevent any catastrophe, if you know what I mean."_

_Kagome gasped, suddenly remembering why she'd fainted in the first place. The memory almost caused her to faint again. She grasped both her friends' hands and Miroku winced again. "Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, just what the hell is going on?"_

_Sango looked at her sympathetically. "We don't know either Kagome-chan. It must be due to the potion, we should have suspected something when he lost all his demon powers like that."_

"_But…but…two Inuyashas!? How is that even possible!?"_

_It was Miroku who answered. "I think the potion caused both sides of his blood to materialize as actual solid beings so that he's separated as a human and a demon, instead of staying a hybrid of the two. But for what purpose I don't know. We will have to seek out the magician to know that."_

"_Then let's seek him out!" Kagome moved to stand._

_Sango pulled her down. "We don't know where he lives. We have no means of tracking him. Besides we can't go with Inuyasha in this state. It's risky to take the human one along and the demon one is not exactly tame."_

"_Yeah he tried to bite off my tail you know." Shippo whimpered from her lap. Kagome placed a consoling hand on his head._

"_And now it would seem that apparently they don't like each other. At all."_

_Kagome turned to the monk. "What do you mean?"_

"_I mean we had a hard time trying to stop them from killing each other. Well trying to stop demon Inuyasha from killing human Inuyasha since the latter can't do much damage in his current state."_

_The schoolgirl blinked. "But they are the same being, aren't they?"_

"_Not now they aren't." Miroku sighed. "His demon and human side don't seem to get along. In fact, it would seem that they can't stand each other."_

"_It would explain why Inuyasha could never get his feelings down right." Sango commented and Miroku nodded._

"_Exactly. Both sides within him contradicted each other and left him confused. Now I can see why he relied on outside help."_

"_Feelings? Outside help? What are you guys talking about?" Kagome blinked at her friends. She was surprised when they turned to her, looking slightly guilty._

"_Er…Kagome-chan, we didn't know how to tell this to you but—_

"_Inuyasha likes you!" Shippo quipped in. Sango slapped her forehead. She was hoping for a more subtle approach._

_Kagome blinked then blushed as she stared down at the kitsune. "Ah, thank you Shippo, but I don't think that—_

"_No he really really likes you! That's why he drank that potion!"_

_Kagome turned to her other two friends, confused. "Huh?"_

"_Well Kagome-chan, the thing is, Inuyasha heard us talking about you two and about how he hadn't resolved his feelings for you yet." Sango started._

"_What do you mean hasn't resolved his feelings? Inuyasha does not have feelings for me."_

"_Oh come on Kagome-chan not you too!" Sango huffed. "Inuyasha's feelings for you are as plain as the red on his haori, the idiot likes you! And we know you do too! You both kissed for Kami's sake!"_

_Kagome spluttered. "I did that only to turn him back to normal! And I don't see what that has to do with—_

"_It does." It was Miroku's turn to speak. "The day you left for home I sort of confronted Inuyasha about his feelings. It's been two years and the guy has not made a move yet, his apparent sexual frustration was starting to take its toll on us." He ignored the schoolgirl's blush and splutter. "I might have drilled him a little hard and left him confused, not to mention he overheard the conversation we had about you two. You know Inuyasha; he does the stupidest of things at the spur of the moment. Also he's the most stubborn idiot I know. So instead of facing us head on he ran off in a huff and eventually came across Tokichi—_

"_Who?"_

"_The magician. I guess he asked him for a spell of some kind to help his situation and that's when the guy muddled his brain with talks about his two hearts—_

"_I'm sorry what? His _two_ hearts?" _

"_I think he meant the demon and human sides of his heart. Said they are in conflict all the time and that's what leaves him confused about his feelings. What his demon heart likes, his human heart does not. His demon side goes by instinct and his human side follows his feelings. He said he had to resolve both sides and come to an understanding."_

"_And the solution was to split him into two?"_

_Miroku shrugged. "It makes sense if I think about it now. It's kind of like how having a physical fight will clear up things better than mental arguments. When he was a hanyou, his hanyou judgment hindered him from following either of his hearts…er, sides and he always had to deal with the mental bickering. Now that he's separated like this, both sides can fight a lot easier."_

_Kagome shook her head. "And people say I have issues."_

"_The thing is, I'm not sure if his human side will hold up if they have an actual fight." Miroku mused._

_Kagome was at a loss. Her friends were practically telling her that the hanyou, the one she was secretly in love with might, just might reciprocate her feelings! She felt her heart do a skip at the thought. Then she remembered that he was not a hanyou right now and she shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She looked at the monk. "I still don't understand. If Inuyasha has…feelings for me then he had them as a hanyou right? Then what's the point in him being split like this?"_

"_I'm guessing it's to find out which side of him has those feelings for you."_

_Kagome blinked. Miroku sighed as he elaborated. "I meant he needs to know if what he feels for you is raw instinctual passion, the kind that a puppy has towards its owner or if he actually does have feelings for you. You know how much he loved Kikyo-sama and his lingering feelings for her are hindering him from finding out how he feels about you."_

_Kagome nodded slowly as it all sunk in. "So basically, I'm the reason why he's like this now."_

"_Kagome-chan—_

"_He did this for me, to know how he feels about me, when all he could have done was ask or talk about it!"_

"_You know his stubbornness. Besides he probably thought you'd sit him multiple times if he did that." The monk pointed out almost accusingly._

_The schoolgirl blushed. She wouldn't put it past her to do such a thing. Still, now she had to deal with not one but two Inuyashas. She felt an ache begin in her head. Kagome sighed. "So? Now what do we do?"_

"_We wait, and see how things turn out." Miroku shrugged, getting to his feet. "It's a pain in the ass having two Inuyashas around but I admit, I'm a little curious to see how things will go from here." He grinned shamelessly._

"_I bet you are." Sango muttered as she helped Kagome stand. Shippo immediately scrambled up her shoulders. "You ready to go out Kagome-chan?"_

"_Not really, no."_

_The slayer laughed. "Sorry you don't get another choice. Come on."_

_**. . . .**_

_The sight before her would take some getting used to._

_Human-Inuyasha had rusty ol' Tessaiga drawn and pointed towards his demon counterpart as the latter, who was thankfully fully clothed now, crouched on his legs, claws flexed out and teeth bared, snarling at him. They seemed to be frozen in limbo however, and Kagome saw Kaede in the middle, hands folded as if in prayer and mumbling something. _

"_What's she doing?" The school girl turned to the monk beside her._

"_She's put up a barrier between those two so they can't get to each other. It's been like this all night. I think I'll go help her." Saying this Miroku walked calmly towards the human Inuyasha and brought his Shakujou down hard on his head._

"_OW! What the hell was that for ya stupid—_

"_Kagome-sama's up."_

"_Oh!" Forgetting his adversary for a moment, human Inuyasha jogged up to the schoolgirl's side. "Kagome! How are ya feeling now?"_

_The miko gave him a small smile. "I'm ok now Inuyasha. The leg still smarts but it's bearable."_

_Inuyasha's purple black eyes softened and he returned her smile. "I see. That's good."_

_Kagome blinked at the soft expression on the latter's face. She'd rarely seen Inuyasha smile at her like that. Before she could be enthralled by it further a pair of arms enveloped her and she was pulled towards a hard chest, causing the kitsune on her shoulder to fall down with a yell. Her blush came back full force and she 'eeped' when demon Inuyasha nuzzled his face against her neck, sniffing deeply. "I-Inu—_

"_Oye! Get away from her ya pervert!" human Inuyasha almost growled as he pulled her back by the collar. "What are you doing hugging her like that?"_

_Demon Inuyasha sneered at him reaching for her again. "My mate."_

"_Like hell she is!" the human simply pushed her to his back as he faced his demon in another glaring contest._

_Miroku smirked at the deeply blushing schoolgirl. "See? I rest my case."_

_Kagome ignored the monk as she placed a placating hand on the human before. "Inuyasha please stop. I don't want you both fighting like this."_

"_But Kagome he—_

"_I know why you took the potion."_

_The simple declaration had Inuyasha instantly sweating bullets as he gaped at her. His demon too seemed to realize that a serious conversation was taking place since he stopped reaching for her and cocked his head to the side. _

_Kagome looked at the human, her blush toning down to a gentle pink. "Miroku-sama and Sango-chan told me. And before you take it out on them, it was me who forced them to tell."_

_Inuyasha cringed, blushing a little himself. "Kagome I—_

_The schoolgirl shook her head. "I'm not going to judge, nor get angry at you. I just wish you had, you know, talked to me about this instead of resorting to some sort of spell." She gave him a small smile. "I'm your friend Inuyasha. I'm always here to help you out."_

_Inuyasha closed his eyes tight. Of course she would. He knew that. But how on earth was he supposed to talk to her about something she was the root cause of? "Kagome I didn't do it just because of you, I just…there were so many things confusing me and I honestly didn't think I'd end up being split like this. I guess I wasn't thinking straight at the time. I know I should have talked to you or something but I was…just…"_

"_Afraid? Some friend I am, scaring you like that."_

"_Kagome…"_

"_I guess." Kagome gave a small giggle. "You probably though I might sit you or someth—_

_It was an honest slip of the tongue but the damage was done. The miko watched in horror as both beings in front of her pummeled to the ground with a 'thud'. She gasped, hand flying to her mouth as she flopped down to their side. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry!"_

"_I guess he had a right being scared." Miroku deadpanned._

"_Kagome, I must remind ye that the Kotodama has been replicated on both of them now. Ye sit one and it affects both." Kaede pointed out. "Also, full demons like him don't take lightly to being subjugated."_

_Sure enough, demon Inuyasha raised his head to growl lowly at her, eyes narrowing dangerously. Kagome eeped and brought her hands together in a sign begging forgiveness. "I'm sorry Inuyasha really! I didn't mean it!"_

_The demon regarding her with hooded eyes for a few seconds before leaning in and licking the tip of her nose in what seemed to be a forgiving manner. Kagome blinked, shell shocked._

"_I said get away from her!" human Inuyasha aimed a punch which was easily evaded by his demon. They stood facing and snarling at each other again. "You stay away from Kagome ya hear?"_

_The demon snorted. "Mate is mine." He growled out._

"_Over my dead body!" a puff of familiar smoke stopped human Inuyasha from charging at his demon. The group watched as Tokichi calmly walked out, regarding both human and demon with knowing eyes._

"_Settle down boys. Ya don' wanna kill each oth'r, trust me."_

"_Tokichi-san." Miroku walked towards him. "You don't look surprised." 'Or drunk like yesterday.' He thought noting the absence of the sake bottle._

_Tokichi nodded. "I suspect'd somethin' like this when I saw him y'sterday. I wus outta sake an' bored so I though' I'll come visit." He looked around and spotted Kagome. "Ah ya must be th' young lass. Nice ta finally mee—_

_The schoolgirl surprised everyone by lunging at the small old man, grabbing his collar and shaking him. "What the hell did you give Inuyasha?" she hissed angrily._

_Tokichi blinked his large saucer eyes at her before turning to the two Inuyashas. "She's a violent 'un, ain't she?"_

"_Turn him back!" Another firm shake._

"_Sorry lassie, no can do."_

"_That was not a request!"_

_Tokichi shook his head, chuckling. "I can't turn 'im back, even if ya threaten'd to gauge me eyes out. He has ta figure this on 'is own."_

_Kagome frowned. "What do you mean?"_

"_Listen lassie, I gave 'im a spell that would erase the thing that bound his hum'n and dem'n powers togeth'r, so now they are separate."_

"_And why did you do that?"_

_The magician shrugged. "He want'd a solution ta understand both o' his sides better, I figur'd this way would help 'im."_

"_Only now they want to try and kill each other." Sango pointed out._

_Tokichi looked at Kagome at that. "Tha's cuz of ya lassie."_

"_Me? What did I do?"_

"_Both hum'n nd dem'n are fighting ta win ya over." Tokichi explained. "Ya know why he took th' potion righ'? I can see ya know."_

_Kagome blushed lightly and nodded. "Yeah."_

"_So th' kid's confused. As in majorly confused. See he doesn' know if its 'is dem'n or hum'n side that likes ya."_

_Human Inuyasha frowned, plopping down next to the old man. "What are you talking about?"_

"_I wasn' kidding when I said yer face was pretty hard ta read kid." The magician addressed Inuyasha. "Ya 'ave strong feelings fer the lass here." He jerked a thumb at the still blushing schoolgirl. "But ya need ta know where they stem from. Oth'rwise ya'll never be able to act on them. Hum'ns and dem'ns have different notions abou' love. Dem'ns normally dun care fer it. They just mate an' get on with it. Yer dem'n calls her his mate yeah?"_

"_Yeah." Human Inuyasha glanced at the demon who was sitting a few steps away from him._

"_Which mean he's very much interested in taking lassie 'ere as a potential mate."_

_Kagome's blush deepened when she caught the almost sensual gaze demon Inuyasha had directed at her. She immediately averted her eyes and cleared her throat._

"_But." Tokichi continued. "Yer not a full dem'n. Yer a hanyou. An' yer human side has major issues. So unless ya resolve both sides' feelings ya'll be at a loss fer what ta do all yer life."_

_Human Inuyasha scratched his head. "So you're saying that unless the human me and the demon me come to an understanding, I can't return to being a hanyou again?"_

_Tokichi nodded. "Exactly."_

"_But you said his demon side already acknowledges his feelings for Kagome? Doesn't it mean that only Inuyasha's human side needs to come up to date with it?" Sango asked._

"_Did I say feelin's? Nah, his dem'n sees her like how any dem'n sees their dem'n mate, not like how a man would see 'is wife. It ain't feelin'. It's instinct."_

"_That's what I thought." Miroku mused. "So basically, both of them need to know how the other truly feels about Kagome-sama and finally like her as equals, right?"_

"_Pret'y much it."_

"_Hm. Should be interesting."_

"_Ano…" They had almost forgotten the miko who sat blushing a blush she'd never blushed before. She looked pleadingly at the magician. "Can't you just give him another potion to turn him back please?"_

_Tokichi shook his head, sighing. "I told ya lassie. I can't reverse the spell. The only reas'n the potion worked was cuz he wanted it ta work. Now unless they both wanna get back ta how they were before then I can' do nothin'"_

_Kagome turned to human Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, you honestly don't want to stay like this do you? Tell him you want to turn back."_

_Inuyasha thought about it deeply. He didn't like the idea of being human or watching his demon side coddle up to her like that. But the more he thought about it he realized that he'd rather stay this way and resolve everything than go back to being a confused hanyou. He turned to the magician, eyes serious. "I just need to understand this guy right? And make him understand me." He jerked a thumb at his demon._

"_Yep. But it ain't gonna be easy lad. The more ya stay apart, the harder it'll become fer ya ta merge."_

_Inuyasha nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." He turned to his demon. "Ya heard that? You better start behaving better with me if you wanna turn back."_

_Demon Inuyasha merely scoffed before turning his face away. The human felt his eye twitch. "Listen to me when I'm talking ya jerk-off!"_

"_You just called yourself a jerk-off." Miroku deadpanned._

"_Shut up! I meant him!"_

"_Is there a difference?"_

"_Quiet you!"_

_Kagome felt her jaw go slack. Inuyasha, the insufferable idiot, had decided to stay in his separated form until he 'resolved his issues'. Did he even know what this meant? She was now caught up in a bizarre love triangle with two sides of her hanyou! Her life had turned into a horrid nightmare come true, literally!_

_Tokichi peered as the human and demon before him glared daggers at each other. He wasn't kidding. It would not be easy. Especially for the young girl who was caught up in all this. He turned to the dejected miko and leaned closer to her ear. "I'll tell ya one thing lassie. Only ya 'ave the power ta turn 'im back."_

_Kagome's eyes widened. "Me? How can I do that?"_

_The old magician moved out of her space and spread his puny hands wide, chuckling. "Spread da love lassie, spread da love!" he disappeared in another puff of smoke before Kagome could bonk his bald head._

_Sango put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Kagome-chan, I know you are worried but we are here to help you, you know."_

_Miroku nodded. "That's right. We just need those two to get along. It may be hard, but not impossible." He smiled at her._

"_Besides, now we can see Inuyasha get his ass kicked by himself! Who would want to miss that!" Shippo chirped cheerily, climbing onto her lap. Kagome couldn't help but laugh at that._

"_Don't tempt me to kick ya squirt." Human Inuyasha commented as he and his demon counterpart walked up to them. "Kagome, I'm sorry I'm causing all this trouble for you. I really didn't mean for it but I…I think this needs to be done. Doesn't mean I like getting paired up with him though." He scowled at his demon who merely scoffed at him. "But if it will help me…be a better hanyou then…"_

_Kagome smiled softly as she got to her feet, holding onto Shippo. "I understand Inuyasha. This could help you clear your head a little. I can't lie and say I'm not freaked out by this but I can work with it I guess. It's only for a little while." She shrugged, smiling. "You are still you anyway, just in two different packaging."_

_Human Inuyasha smiled back at her while Demon Inuyasha stared at her, eyes half-lidded before moving a little closer._

_Sango turned to Miroku and Kaede. "This might just work huh?"_

"_Eek!"_

"_WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT TOUCHING HER!?"_

_The other three sweatdropped. "Maybe not."_

_**~Back to the present time~**_

So basically, Kagome was stuck babysitting an insufferable human and a perverted demon for God knows how long. She sighed for the umpteenth time. She did say she would work with it but this was getting more difficult by the minute. She'd lost count of the times she'd sat Demon Inuyasha for pulling a Miroku on her and unintentionally pulled Human Inuyasha also into the punishment. Not to mention each sit left Inuyasha's demon side pretty pissed off and she was scared he might fly off the handle any minute. If this continues she might lose the only hold she has over him…them. Kagome wished she hadn't agreed to this stupid plan.

"Lunch is ready." Came the announcement and everybody shuffled about to get a plate and bowl. Kagome blinked when two plates of cooked fish were presented to her simultaneously and she dared to look at the givers. _'Oh boy, here we go again.'_

"Stand back." Human Inuyasha grit out.

"My mate. I feed." Demon Inuyasha growled.

"She doesn't need your stupid help to eat!"

"You weak human. You stand back."

"He's learnt a lot more words since 'mate', hasn't he?" Miroku chuckled as he chewed on his food, enjoying the show.

"Stop. Both of you." Kagome said, getting a separate plate. "I can feed myself thank you very much. Now go to your separate corners and eat your fish."

"But Kagome—

"Mate—

"EAT THE DAMNED FISH!" the two scrambled away from her as a spark of her power shot straight up, putting a nice hole on the thatched ceiling. Kagome sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose tiredly. "Gomen Kaede-sama."

Kaede smiled. "Eat your food child. You look exhausted."

"I am exhausted."

"Kagome-chan, let's go to a hot spring later ne?" Sango offered. "There is one not too far from the village. Miroku and Shippo can help monitor the two Inuyashas." Kagome smiled at her friend's concern.

"What?" Shippo's jaw went slack, a piece of half chewed fish hanging from it. "No way! I'm coming with you guys!"

"Ah come on Shippo." Miroku pulled the kitsune to him in a tight hug. "Imagine all the fun we'll have with these two."

"I don't like your idea of fu—AH! My fish!" Shippo wailed as the half eaten piece of fish flew from his chopstick and onto the dusty floor. He turned teary eyes to the monk. "It's your fault Miroku! Give me your fis—AH! You already ate it!" Miroku chuckled apologetically as Shippo glared at him. "You meanie!"

"Here Shippo-chan." The kitsune blinked at the barely touched fish offered to him. Kagome smiled. "I'm not really hungry. You take it." The little demon took the food, still pouting slightly as he chewed on it.

Kagome smiled at him before moving to get a bowl of soup. She blinked when a plate of fish was pushed towards her. She looked up to see human Inuyasha scowling at some point on the wall before him. "I'm not really hungry either. Beside you need your strength. We're going after Naraku once you and Sango get back." He blushed lightly when Kagome gave him a smile.

"Thank you Inuyasha."

"Keh."

Demon Inuyasha watched the exchange from his spot a few feet away. He looked at Kagome, then at the fish in his hand, then back at Kagome. Standing up he padded towards her and placed his fish next to the one on the plate. Kagome blinked up at him and he grunted, nodding at the food. He felt his ears go back and if he had a tail he'd have wagged it to show his happiness on seeing Kagome smile at him. "Thank you too, Inuyasha." He poked at her nose with a claw before going back to his corner, smirking at Human Inuyasha on the way. His smirk grew when he got a "Feh" in return.

Kagome smiled as she looked at the fish before her. Maybe, just maybe, this won't be such a bad thing.

* * *

It had been quite some time since he last saw her. He knew they would have gotten wind of Naraku's new activity as well and it wouldn't be long before their paths crossed. But still it left him impatient. He needed to see her before he headed out with his pack. He needed reassurance that she was safe and well. For a few days he'd been having a bad feeling, that she was in some sort of a pinch and it left him unsettled. It was starting to affect his pack as well and he couldn't have that. He needed to see her, needed to breathe her sweet jasmine scent once again. Just once, and for a few more days, his heart would be at ease.

"Kagome." He breathed, sky blue eyes gazing toward the general direction of the village where she would be. "Wait for me."

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**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

**TBC**

**A/N:**…I'm going to be bitch-slapped, aren't I? (gulps nervously)

I know you guys said no more cliffhangers but I couldn't help it! This chapter was begging for it! Honestly!

(Ahem) Anyway, I wanted to tell you that the next chapter will come out only after the 29th of this month since I have a major presentation coming up for college and I didn't prepare shit. Yes I know I'm being evil and I'm sorry, but you guys should be used to my delays by now (grins). I'll try my best to post it sooner but no promises ok? I seem to suck at keeping them (pouts)

That aside, please tell me what you think. English is not my first language so if there are any mistakes or grammar inconsistencies please do point them out. I accept reviews, constructive criticisms and apparent death threats (grins).

Ja my lovelies. Let's hope I get the next chappie out before 29th, for my own health's sake!

Kaijuu signing off.


	5. Chapter 5

Yosh minna! I finally managed to get the next chapter out. I'm sorry it took longer than I thought, I was suddenly doused with extra school work (damn teachers!). But to make up for being late (again) I made this chapter extra-long for ya'll! (grins) This chapter came to me as a dream and I initially thought to split it up but then decided that you guys deserved to have at least one long chapter for being so patient with me. And no, it's not because I didn't get many reviews for my previous chapter (mutters and grumbles).

Anywho I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the other ones and I hope I get to hear what you think about it because really, I work faster when motivated (or threatened, whichever works best!) So do review ne?

Also, I realized that the link I posted about my artwork in my previous author's note does not work (grumbles). No matter, I will post the link sometime in my profile so you can check it out later. But for now, please enjoy this chapter! (grins and bows)

**Disclaimer:** Of course I own Inuy—(gets glared at by Takahashi sensei)—er I mean this fic. Hehe!

**Warning:** Mild cursing. I was imagining my teacher when I wrote this chapter (scowls at the memory)

* * *

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

**CHAPTER 5:**

Did she say this wouldn't be a bad thing? Somebody needed to smack her in the face.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelled, barely hearing her own voice over the rush of wind in her ear. "Inuyasha put me down!"

The demon paid her no heed as he practically flew over the ground, clutching the schoolgirl tight to his chest. Kagome squeaked when he took a particularly high leap, fisting her hands in his dark blue robes. Why was she in the situation again?

Oh yeah, because she was a stubborn idiot.

It had been late evening when they had left Kaede's village, said their byes to the old priestess and headed out to who knows where in search of Naraku. Since Kirara was out of commission, having been injured as well from the earlier fight, the group was forced to journey by foot. About twenty minutes had passed when Kagome hissed suddenly, having placed her injured foot wrongly on the ground. As Sango and Shippo gushed over her, Inuyasha, the human one, remarked impatiently about her being weak willed again for letting a 'measly injury like that' hinder her. Kagome had glared at him and promptly sat her butt on the ground, refusing to move another inch until the hypocritical former hanyou apologized to her. Miroku, trying to bring peace back to their journey, offered to carry the miko till she felt better but Kagome in all her stubborn stupidity (and also because she was wary of monk's supposedly possessed hand) refused. Her angry pout, her bandaged leg and her refusal to get up and walk led Demon Inuyasha to draw the conclusion "Mate danger! Must help!" And help he did. Before any of them could say "Wha?" Kagome was swept off her butt and into the strong arms of the demon, who promptly sped off leaving behind their befuddled companions, her monster bag and a thick cloud of dust in his wake.

Yup. She deserved that smack.

"Inuyasha if you don't put me down now I swear to God I'll…I'll…" She had no idea what she would do. It's not like she could sit him when he was twenty feet up in the air, and carrying her no less. Kagome gasped, her heart beating somewhere up in her throat as his jumps grew higher and higher. Granted she'd travelled with hanyou Inuyasha like this several times but he was never this…rough with her. She felt like she was being tossed up like a pizza! "Oh God I'm going to die!" she wailed.

The demon above her was still blissfully ignorant of her crisis. His mate had no reason to worry; she was in safe hands now. His hands. His puny human side could never take care of her, hell he made her walk in her weakened state. What sort of a mate would do that? No, he would treat her like a china doll, delicately and preciously. He looked down and saw Kagome with her eyes shut and mouth open in a silent scream, fists still clutching his robe tightly. The demon frowned, wondering why his mate still looked distressed. He needed to help her relax. Doing a quick survey of the ground below he spotted what he was looking for and came to an abrupt halt.

Kagome jolted and almost flew off of Inuyasha's arms as the latter stopped suddenly. She gave him a glare, which turned into a look of confusion as he gently sat her on the ground. Looking back she realized that they were _way_ ahead of the others, she could see neither hide nor hair of them. Kagome let out a sigh and settled to look around the new area. It seemed to be a clearing of some sort with a small brook running through its middle. She saw Inuyasha hunch over the water and frowned. What was he doing now? She got her answer when he returned to her side with a handful of the clear liquid raised towards her lips. Kagome blinked at him.

"You brought me water?" Talk about stating the obvious. The demon grunted and pressed his fingers to her lips in reply. Kagome's eyes softened. Her throat was parched from all the screaming after all. "Thank you Inuyasha." She whispered and dipped her head.

Inuyasha watched as she drank every drop and wiped her mouth. He waited for her brilliant smile to grace him in thanks but when a scowl and a sigh came in its place he frowned. Was she still uncomfortable? His eyes turned to her injured leg and he realized what had to be done.

Kagome's musing on how to get back together with the others was interrupted when a clawed hand was placed on her right thigh. She blinked and saw Inuyasha dip his head over her leg, his tongue stuck out and one clawed finger plucking at the cotton bandage. "Kyaa! What are you doing?"

Inuyasha, tongue still out, gave her a look that clearly said 'Isn't it obvious? I'm going to lick your injury clean."

Kagome blushed different shades of red. "T-there's no need for that Inuyasha. I'm fine, perfectly fine see?" she wiggled her toes and flexed her leg to prove her point.

Demon Inuyasha was unconvinced, which he conveyed to her with a snort and a roll of his eyes, and he reached for her again but Kagome crawled away from him with a squeak. The demon growled lowly and reached again but was once more evaded by the miko. The chase continued until Kagome's back hit the bark of a random tree and she gulped when Inuyasha hovered over her, smirking, his tongue poking out again. "I-inu—

A loud thud froze both miko and demon and they turned to see a positively livid human Inuyasha heaving heavily, his stormy black eyes glaring daggers at his demon counterpart.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed. "You found us! And you brought my bag! Thank goddn—

Human Inuyasha gave her no time to finish her thanks as he stomped over to his demon and yanked him up by his robes. "You. Are. So. Dead!" he ground out.

The demon simply snorted again, before pouncing on his human. Kagome blinked as the two disappeared under a flurry of punches and kicks. That was all she could make out before she was blinded by a pair of breasts.

"Kagome-chan, thank Kami you're ok!" Sango gushed, clutching the schoolgirl tightly. "We really thought the worst when demon Inuyasha took off with you like that!"

"Hug her any tighter and the worst might just happen Sango." Miroku came to the suffocating miko's rescue. Sango 'eeped' and let go and Kagome gratefully filled her lungs again. "But I'm glad you are ok Kagome-sama."

"Yeah." Shippo quipped, climbing onto her lap. "He didn't hurt you did he?"

Kagome smiled at the worried kitsune. "No Shippo. Well he did give me mini heart attacks with his running and jumping but other than that no. He even fed me some water."

"See? I told you she'll be fine. He was just being protective." The monk said. "Inu-youkais are known to be the most protective of all demons. In his eyes, he was just looking out for his 'mate'."

"Try explaining that to the human one." Shippo deadpanned, pointing to the still fighting duo.

Sango shook her head. "If this keeps up they really might kill each other."

"Shouldn't we stop them?"

"No." Kagome sighed. "I'm not getting in the middle of their fight. They can resolve it on their own. I've had my nerves strained enough for—

"You lay one more hand on Kagome and I'll chop it off!"

"Mate belongs to me! You weak and pathetic human!"

"I'll show you weak and pathetic you little—

Kagome's eyebrow ticked. "Like I said, I'm not going to butt into their—

"I will kill you pathetic ningen!"

"Just you try you pea-brained youkai!"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP OR I'LL SAY THE DAMN WORD!"

'_So much for not butting in.'_ Miroku and Sango thought as they watched Kagome heave and glare angrily at the now frozen duo. The fading light around the clearing suggested that night had begun to fall. Miroku decided that a good rest was necessary to clear the hassles of the day. "Why don't we set camp here for the night? We can regain our strengths and start again tomorrow morning."

A scowl immediately visited human Inuyasha's face. "You guys want to rest again? It's barely nightfall, we can still cover some more distance—

"If we walk any further we will face a repeat of what happened earlier Inuyasha." The monk interrupted his rant. "As long as Kagome-sama stays injured your demon side won't leave her alone. If you don't want to spend another day chasing after him then I suggest we rest now and let her heal some more. Maybe Kirara will feel better tomorrow and we will have a better chance of gaining more ground with her aid."

Inuyasha couldn't argue with that logic so he just keh'd his approval. "Fine but I ain't taking my eyes off of him." He gave his demon a dirty look.

Miroku yawned. "You do that. I'm going to get a good night's sleep though. Shippo, could you help me get some firewood?"

"Sure thing." The kitsune bounded off behind the monk.

Sango turned to Kagome. "Let me look at your leg Kagome-chan. You might need a redressing." Kagome winced lightly when the slayer prodded at her wound. Demon Inuyasha was immediately by her side, growling at the other. Sango rolled her eyes. "Easy tiger, I'm not going to hurt her."

"Inuyasha." Kagome placed a hand on his arm. "I'm ok. You needn't worry over me so much. Go get some rest. You too Inuyasha." She turned to the human one. "You don't have your usual hanyou strength and you could tire easily so please."

Human Inuyasha keh'd again. "Just 'cause I'm human now doesn't mean I'm weak woman." He sounded miffed.

Kagome giggled at his pouty look. "Of course you aren't. But I'll feel better if I know you got some rest too. Please Inuyasha." She gave him her puppy look.

Inuyasha blushed lightly and rubbed his nose. "Fine. But just for tonight. And you are coming with me." He pulled at his demon, forcing him to follow him. "You ain't getting anywhere near her tonight." His demon growled but followed him to a nearby tree nonetheless.

Kagome sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "So much excitement and it's just been one day. I don't know how long I can keep this up."

Sango smiled at her as she re-wrapped her leg. "Don't worry. You just focus on getting some sleep tonight Kagome-chan. Hopefully things will be a lot peaceful tomorrow."

Kagome smiled back. "Yeah. Hopefully."

If only they knew.

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

"Hey Kagome, d'ya sense any jewel shards?"

That was the fifteenth time in twenty minutes. Kagome felt a permanent twitch develop in her left eye as she forced to remain calm. "No Inuyasha, I do not."

Miroku had been right. A good night's rest had done them all wonders; Kagome's leg barely stung anymore and Kirara was feeling a lot better considering she was limping the day before. They had all felt energetic and refreshed. The downside was that the group had yet to find ways to keep the two Inuyashas from lunging at each other. Kagome literally had to wrestle away Demon Inuyasha when he tried to lick her awake, which caused Human Inuyasha to have a fit. And then she sat Human Inuyasha for picking on Shippo, a punishment which Demon Inuyasha and the misfortune to endure as well. Miroku had to bring out his ofudas to calm down the enraged demon with no help from his human counterpart. All those commotions caused them to miss breakfast or risk being late again and with the human-turned-hanyou making the decision they had no choice but to forgo food. Needless to say by mid-morning everyone except the split hanyou were hungry, grumpy and downright exhausted.

Five seconds passed before Inuyasha opened his mouth again. "Hey Kagome, d'ya sense any jewel shards?"

'_Must not kill him. Must not kill him!'_ "Inuyasha if I did I'd tell you so stop asking me every five fucking seconds!"

"Jeez woman you could have just said no. Keh."

Breathe in. Breathe out. Think of butterflies. Kagome tried to recall the calming lessons her grandpa taught her as she tried not to strangle him. On her shoulder Shippo shivered, ready to transfer onto Miroku in case she snapped. Luckily for him the schoolgirl continued walking without causing a scene.

The rest of the walk continued in silence, broken by the occasional curses let out by human Inuyasha about the lack of jewel shards. Miroku turned to look at demon Inuyasha who seemed too quiet for his liking. He nudged Sango. "He seems a little pre-occupied don't you think?"

Sango followed his line of sight. For once demon Inuyasha's focus was not on Kagome but the thick forest surrounding them. He would stop from time to time to take a whiff at the air, ears twitching madly in all directions. At the sound of his human counterpart's voice he would start walking again, only to stop after a few more steps. "Is he searching for something?"

"I don't think so, unless he's on the lookout for shards too."

"What are you guys talking about?" Kagome asked, noticing her friends whispering. She turned to see Demon Inuyasha stop a few feet behind them, ears trained towards the forest. "Inuyasha what's is it?"

"What is what?" Human Inuyasha blinked.

"Not you, him."

The demon turned to her but before he could say anything a loud growl sounded. The party looked at Shippo who blushed and clutched at his stomach. "I'm hungry." He admitted shyly.

Miroku sighed. "Of course you are. We skipped breakfast after all." He turned to human Inuyasha. "What do you say we take a quick break?"

"Keh. We don't have time for breaks monk. We need to keep walking if we want to cover some significant distance before nightfall, we don't have time for a fucking picnic." A growl much louder than the one Shippo's stomach let out sailed through the air, half drowning Inuyasha's voice. The human blushed. "Well as long as it's just ninja food, it's fine." He relented gruffly.

"Er…" Kagome rubbed her head sheepishly. "I'm sorry guys, in my hurry to come here I forgot to stock up on the food."

"What? You mean there's no ninja food!?"

The schoolgirl nodded apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Guess we'll have to go hunting then." Sango sighed and heaved her boomerang.

"Sorry guys."

"Jeez Kagome you know handy ninja food is when we are travelling. How could you forget something so important?" human Inuyasha scolded.

"I'm sorry but food was the last thing on my mind when I dashed here to check on you!" The schoolgirl frowned, placing her hands on her hips. "Besides if we had taken time off for breakfast earlier then we wouldn't have had to hurry now."

"Keh,whatever. You didn't oppose when I said we keep moving. If you were hungry you should have just said so."

"I _was_ hungry and I _did_ say so, you just didn't care to _listen—_

Demon Inuyasha's ears twitched at the word 'hungry'. In an instant he was by Kagome's side again, and the schoolgirl squeaked in shock. "Mate hungry?" he asked softly, rubbing at her cheek with a thumb.

Kagome blinked and tried not to shiver at the touch. "Er…yeah, a little."

Demon Inuyasha nodded. "Mate stay. I bring food." With that he bounded off towards the forest.

The rest of the group watched him go. "You think he'll bring enough for all of us?" Sango asked, setting down her weapon.

"Let's hope so. I don't really feel like hunting." Miroku said, stretching lightly.

"This is ridiculous!" human Inuyasha huffed. "We need to get back to searching for the jewel shards. Speaking of which, hey Kagome—

"No."

Inuyasha blinked. "But I didn't finish the question."

"You were going to ask me if I sense any shards so no, I don't. Now stop asking me that."

Inuyasha wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? Maybe you should concentrate some more—

Kagome whirled on him angrily. "Inuyasha there are no friggen jewel shards so drop it alrea—wait!" her eyes went wide. "I sense a jewel shard!"

The group was immediately alert. "What? Where?" Inuyasha asked her. "See I told you you should concen—

"Shh!" Kagome frowned, trying to focus. "It's moving very fast but I can tell there's one…or maybe…" she focused even harder. "There're two! I sense two shards!"

The group stared at her. Sango reached for her weapon again. "If it's moving then it must be a demon. Can you tell where it's heading Kagome-chan?"

"Hang on, I think…" Kagome closed her eyes and concentrated. The familiar pink power seemed to be getting brighter and brighter the more she focused on it. "I think it's headed this way."

"Hm." Miroku mused. "Two jewel shards. Heading towards us." He turned to look at the schoolgirl. "Guess you are not the only one with a bad timing sense."

"What do you mean—oh no!" Kagome's eyes widened when she realized just what Miroku had meant. As if on cue a rapidly spinning whirlwind of dust and leaves appeared by their side and came to an abrupt stop. The dust settled down to reveal the one person Kagome had absolutely _no_ desire to see at present.

"Kagome love!" Kouga exclaimed as he whipped out a bunch of freshly picked flowers and held them out to the miko. He grinned at her, his pearly white teeth sparkling. "It's great to see ya again."

Kagome mentally sent a thousand curses upwards, hoping they would reach the one laughing at her predicament from above. "K-kouga-kun." She forced a smile, reluctantly taking the flowers he offered. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just passing by these woods when your lovely scent washed over me. Good thing too cause I was meaning to come visit you."

Kagome gulped. "You were? What for?" _'Please don't stay long! Please just go!'_

Kouga was oblivious to her distress as he took her hand in his. He stared into her eyes with a sense of seriousness. "These past few days I couldn't help but feel you were in some kind of trouble Kagome. And seeing you now, with your deathly pale skin and dark circles under your eyes, I know there's something upsetting you. What's wrong love? You know you can tell me anything."

Kagome felt her sweat break out as she felt an ominous aura grow behind her. Screw courtesy, she needed to get him to leave pronto!. "Kouga-kun. I'm fine. It's just your imagination really." She tried to reassure him and take her hand back subtly.

Kouga frowned. "But Kagome you look exhausted. You can't be fine." He clenched his jaw and brought her closer. "Inuyasha hasn't been treating you well has he? Where is that dog-turd, I'm going to give him a piece of my—

"You let her go now else 'dog-turd' here will have your guts spilled all over the ground wolf-shit." The tip of a rusty sword poked him squarely in the chest, causing the wolf to let go of Kagome and step back. Kouga blinked at the sword and growled when he realized who owned it.

"So you finally admit to being a dog-turd huh you spineless…little…half…" He trailed off as cobalt blue eyes finally fell on a seething human Inuyasha. Kagome groaned softly.

Kouga blinked once. Twice. Then turned to Kagome. "Er…who's this?"

"It's me ya dim-witted wolf!" Inuyasha swung his rusty sword down onto the wolf demon's head and growled when it barely scratched him. Kouga on the other hand was gaping at his rival, mouth opening and closing very much like a fish.

"I-Inuyasha!?"

"Who else did ya think it was?" said human huffed. Kouga continued to gape at him unabashedly. He took in the dark black hair, angry purple black eyes and the lack of demon features. Come to think of it he had seen Inuyasha like this once maybe. During that awful fight with Kagura. "You're…human." He stated rather than questioned.

"Thank you Captain Obvious."

Kouga felt the gears in his head work frivolously. If he remembered right, the last time he'd seen Inuyasha turn human was at nighttime. Kagome had told him something about Inuyasha losing his demon powers on a particular night every month. But right now, he looked up at the sky for confirmation, it was daytime. Which could mean only one thing. "You're…stuck human?"

Inuyasha's eye twitched, which gave away the fact that yes, he very much was. Kouga blinked again a couple times before bursting out in laughter.

"Hahahahah….I-Inuyasha…you're stuck as a human….hahahaha…your doggy powers are no longer….hahahahahaha!"

Inuyasha growled low, blushing with anger and embarrassment. Beside him Kagome smacked her forehead and Miroku and Sango tried to hold in chuckles of their own. "Oye! Quit laughing you stupid wolf else I'll skewer you with my sword!"

"W-what? That rusty piece of shit?" Kouga wheezed, wiping at a tear. "In your current condition you're as much a threat to me as this kitsune here. Oh wait, at least he has fangs. HAHAHAHAHA!"

Kagome stepped in before Inuyasha could pounce on the guffawing wolf in anger. "Kouga-kun, as you can see there was an accident and Inuyasha ended up like this." She decided not to tell him the whole story. "This is why I got a little stressed but it is fine now, so you can go." Please.

Kouga stopped laughing and gave her an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me Kagome? You honestly think this guy in his pathetic human state can protect you? No way, there's no way in hell I'm letting you stay with him when he's in such a powerless…whoa!"

Inuyasha cursed as the wolf demon dodged his punch. "Who's powerless stupid wolf?"

Kouga merely smirked at him and pulled Kagome closer. "I've decided. Since you can't take care of Kagome anymore I'm going to be travelling with you and your group. I'm sure it would make Kagome more than happy."

"She looks more than ready to die if you ask me." Miroku whispered to Sango taking in Kagome's resigned expression. Out loud he said. "So that means you know something about Naraku's new hideout too huh Kouga, if you are going the same way as us?"

The wolf youkai nodded. "I've caught whereabouts of his scent here and there, which gives me another reason to travel with you guys considering dog-turd here can't smell shit now."

"Hey I can smell fine!"

"Heh yeah, with this nose you won't smell Naraku even if he flew smack into your face."

Kagome counted to ten before gently removing herself from Kouga's grasp. "Ne Kouga-kun, it's fine really. If you come with us we will only be pulling you behind. Besides you have your own pack to look after."

"That won't be a problem love." Kouga reclaimed her hand. "I left the pack in Ginta and Hakaku's care since they can't keep up with me anyway so I'm on my own now." He grinned at her. Kagome slumped. So much for that plan.

Human Inuyasha scowled and slapped the wolf demon's hand away. "And what makes you think I'm going to let you come with us ya mangy wolf?"

Kouga scowled back, rubbing his hand. "What are you gonna do about it dog-breath, yell at me?"

Inuyasha froze for a second and then smirked at him. "You seem to be forgetting one fact Kouga. I'm _half_ demon."

The wolf youkai raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"So." Inuyasha continued, his eyes shifting somewhere to Kouga's right. "You need to look out for my other half."

"What the hell are you—" his sentence got cut when a large boar hit him squarely in the face, causing the wolf-youkai to topple to the ground in surprise. Groaning, Kouga nursed his injured head and looked up at his assailant. His jaw went slack when he came face to face with a very livid and a very demon Inuyasha.

"Stay. Away. From my mate!" demon Inuyasha growled out.

Kouga blinked and blinked again. Yup. That was definitely Inuyasha. And he was definitely _full_ demon.

He turned to the smirking human above him. "You have an evil demon twin?"

Inuyasha almost fell over. "That's me ya moron!" he bonked the other on the head.

Kouga scowled. He was seriously confused right now. "I'm seriously confused right now." He told the group.

Kagome sighed and fell into the rather tedious explanation about the situation. "And that is why we are now stuck with two Inuyashas instead of one, his demon and human half, split into separate beings." She squeaked when demon Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. That earned him a bonk on the head from his human. "Let her go ya stupid!"

To say Kouga was stunned was an understatement. The hanyou he'd considered a rival was now literally split into two and standing before him as two separate entities. Who ever heard of such a phenomenon? But what surprised him more than that was the fact that "You really drank something given by a stranger? How stupid could you get?"

Inuyasha had to count to fifty to stop himself from trying to kill the wolf demon. Instead he gave him a nasty scowl. "That ain't your business. But now that you know I'm not as powerless as you think go be on your way. We don't need your nose or your demon claws, we have a better one at hand." He jerked his thumb at his demon counterpart.

Kouga slowly got to his feet and brushed his fur coat. He stared at the two Inuyashas with a seriously grim face that paved way for an authoritative smirk. "If you think I'm going to be on my merry way now dog-breath you need to get your brain checked." He pointed his hand at Demon Inuyasha. "There's no way in hell I'm leaving Kagome with a full-fledged demon!"

"Doesn't he realize he's a full-fledged demon as well?" Shippo deadpanned.

"Besides." Kouga continued, turning to look at the demon beside him. "Kagome is my mate. Get that through your thick head dog-turd."

Demon Inuyasha growled, eyes narrowing dangerously pulled the miko back to his side. Kagome squirmed against the wolf-demon. "Kouga-kun please, don't provoke him."

"I ain't provoking Kagome, I'm letting him see the truth. You belong to me." He gave her a blinding grin which was immediately wiped off courtesy of a well-placed punch to his jaw. The group gaped as Kouga skid a few feet across the grassy floor. Kagome felt a tug at her hand and was yanked onto a different chest. Demon Inuyasha's growl rumbled through her ears. "My mate."

Kouga sat up again and pressed a finger to the cut on his lip. He watched the blood dribble down and let out a small laugh. "You asked for it dog-turd." Without another word he flung himself onto the other demon and both began rolling on the floor, punching and kicking at every space of skin they could find.

Kagome floundered for a bit not knowing what to do. She turned to human Inuyasha in panic. "Inuyasha stop them! If this keeps up you will seriously get hurt!"

The human completely ignored her as he trembled and muttered in anger, his bangs shadowing his face. "Those two…how dare they ignore me..." He raised his head with a war cry. "I'm going to kill you both!" Saying so he charged into the battlefield.

Kagome watched, slack jawed at the scene that unfolded before her. Sango placed a placating hand on her shoulder as Miroku tried to school his features to one that looked less amused.

"There there Kagome-chan. Just pretend this is not happening."

Kagome looked at her teary eyed. "Sango-chan~!"

"Maybe we should get started on breakfast." Miroku mused looking at the large dead boar. "They should be done by then."

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving!" Shippo cried out happily. However before they could make another move a startled wolf demon found himself thrown on top of the dead animal, followed closely by the human-turned-hanyou who landed on his face a few feet to his right.

Kagome gasped and 'eeped' when a livid demon Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Mate is mine!" he literally roared out.

"Inuyasha what are you thinking!? You nearly killed half of you!" The schoolgirl scolded, squirming against the demon's hold. "Let go of me!"

Demon Inuyasha glanced down at her. "Mate…"

"I said LET GO!"

A small burst of pink power shot out of her hand and the demon yelped, jumping away from her. Kagome immediately ran towards the fallen human. "Inuyasha, are you ok?" She gingerly touched his head.

Human Inuyasha groaned and sat up. "Ouch! Stupid frigging human body!" He whirled towards the demon, completely ignoring the panicked miko. "You damn demon, you're gonna pay for this!" he yelled and once again flung himself on to his youkai.

Kouga blinked away the stars in his eyes and sat up. He spotted the two Inuyashas brawling and sweatdropped. "You know, I think he needs help." He commented to the monk and the slayer.

Miroku shook his head and sighed. "Help is what made him like this in the first place."

Kouga mimicked the monk and shook his head. Leaning towards the suddenly silent miko he took her hand in his again. "Kagome I really don't think you should travel with dog-turd when he's in this condition. He's not even stable with his youkai side. I think you should come with me, we can search for the jewel shards and defeat Naraku together. Besides, right now I'm your best bet to—

He trailed off when he felt a slight burn between his fingers. Looking down he saw Kagome's hand glow bright pink and begin to burn his flesh. The wolf youkai yelped and dropped the miko's hand. He gave her a cautious look. "K-Kagome?"

The miko didn't acknowledge him as she wordlessly got to her feet. Kouga, Miroku, Sango and Shippo watched apprehensively as she walked over to the still fighting Inuyashas. Inhaling as much air as she could hold Kagome let out a single predictable word.

"SIT!"

Both human and demon found themselves six feet under in the blink of an eye. Miroku tskd, Sango sighed and Shippo shook his head. "Yare yare." The kitsune commented. "She finally snapped."

Kouga shuddered lightly at the angry waves that seemed to envelop the otherwise gentle miko. He gulped when she turned and fixed him with a smile that made him want to run with his tail between his legs.

"Kouga-kun, I think it's best if you leave for now." Kagome told him, still smiling.

Kouga knew he shouldn't argue, not when she could purify his ass any second in the state she was in. But his stubborn demon pride didn't let him go without a protest. "But Kagome, I—

"Please." That was not a request and you better scram quickly before I let loose my powers and burn you to a charred crisp, her twisted smile seemed to say. Kouga gulped and nodded once. Sending one last look towards the still buried halves of his rival he practically fled the scene.

Miroku, Sango and Shippo remained silent as the miko still stayed smiling at the spot where the wolf demon stood. She suddenly turned towards them and they started.

"Sango-chan?"

Sango gulped. "Hai?"

"Could you lend Kirara to me? I need to get back to the village."

The slayer blinked. "Uh…sure." She let the little cat demon down. "But why would you want to go to the village Kagome-chan?"

Kagome just smiled wider. "Because I'm going home."

That snapped human Inuyasha into action. He sprung to his feet. "What!? What the hell do you mean going home?"

The angry miko whirled on him. "I meant exactly what I said." She hissed at him and he cowered back in his hole. "You two have got on my nerves more than once today and it's annoying the crap out of me. You couldn't go five minutes in front of Kouga without pouncing on him and trying to punch out his guts!"

Demon Inuyasha came to his human's rescue at that. "Wolf try to steal mate. We taught him his place."

Kagome turned to the demon. "First of all, I am not your mate. Second, Kouga-kun was just trying to help out. And Third, I AM NOT YOUR FRIGGEN MATE!" she screamed and the demon almost whimpered at her furious look. "If you think I have no job besides watching you two go at each other every five seconds or whenever anyone comes within a five-foot radius of me then guess again! I'm done babysitting! I have a test to study and I'm going back to my time for some much needed peace and quiet. You can search for the shards or hunt down Naraku on your own, I don't care because I am going HOME!" Saying this, the schoolgirl promptly jumped onto Kirara's back and flew her towards Kaede's village.

There was an eerie silence in the clearing. Miroku, Sango and Shippo turned to see the two Inuyashas huddled together, petrified and stunned at the sudden display of raw anger by their miko.

Miroku chuckled. "Scared much?"

Human Inuyasha was the first to regain his sense. "Pfft as if! He was the one who almost pissed in his pants." His demon gave him a dirty look before pushing him off.

Sango sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Well, this leaves us with only one choice."

The monk nodded. "Go back to the village for now." He gave the former hanyou a displeased look. "I hope you're both happy with what you did."

A "fuck off!" and growl was the response as the group began their trek back to the village.

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

The tip-tap of her wooden sandals was the only sound that echoed through the deserted dreary hallway of the abandoned castle. Outside, the wind howled, mirroring her mood as it erratically blew against the windows, restless and impatient. She sighed and tapped her fan to her lips in annoyance, as she recalled the recent order that was given to her.

'_Find the miko.'_ The annoyingly cocky voice floated through her head. _'Find Kagome and get the shards. It's time for me to make my next move.'_

The wind gave a particularly loud howl as her lips twisted in a grimace. Damn that filthy demon, robbing of her temporary freedom all for the sake of a measly wanna-be priestess and her shards. He could easily manipulate them to fall into any one of his traps and get the shards himself but he was too busy hiding, no _preparing_ his next big plan to let them notice him. Tch, she was almost tempted to let them know where he was at present, just to see the look on his face when his 'plan' falls apart before it was even set.

A hollow feeling in her chest where her heart should have been reminded her where her 'loyalties' lay and she bit back her bitterness. Coming to the end of the hallway, she saw her elder sister stare blankly at her as the short girl held out a small mirror. The surface shimmered and glazed over before the image of a frowning girl riding a large cat demon appeared on it. The landscape beneath her told them exactly where the girl was headed.

Kagura snapped her fan shut and smirked at Kagome's unsuspecting angry face. "Time to let the wind dance."

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

"Inuyasha no baka! BAKA!" Kagome muttered angrily as Kirara flew her over a canopy of trees. Her nerves were still wrung tight with frustration and her hands still tingled from the earlier use of her powers. Her face scowled as she recalled the human-demon troublemaking duo. "Ooh they piss me off so bad!" she hissed to no one in particular

Kirara whined at her, trying to calm the frizzled miko somewhat but was ignored as another angry tirade left her rider's mouth. She rolled her eyes and spotted, with relief, the bone-eaters well a few feet ahead. Before she could descend however the wind picked up all of a sudden, twisting around her and forcing her to veer slightly off course.

Kagome shrieked as she was nearly thrown off by the sudden force of the wind. Kirara landed somewhat awkwardly and the miko jumped off of her, bracing herself against the heavy gale. She looked up see a large feather floating above her and scowled. "Kagura!"

The wind demoness smirked down at the hapless miko. "It's dangerous to ride alone at night priestess, where's your knight with the shining silver hair?"

Kagome frowned up at her. "What do you want Kagura? Why are you here?" she shouted over the howling wind.

The wind demoness narrowed her red eyes. "I think that's pretty obvious. To get your shards of course."

The schoolgirl wrapped a hand around the small bottle around her neck. "I won't let you have them."

Kagura laughed. "I don't know how you can resist, seeing as you are not armed."

"I'm not alone either. Kirara!"

The cat demon launched herself upwards, fangs bared and claws extended. Kagura opened her fan and swung it down. "Ryuujin no mai."

Torrents of whirling wind rained down on the ground. Kirara dodged them deftly as she launched herself at the demoness, trying to keep her off of Kagome. The miko cursed her luck for not having any arrows as she ran quickly towards the well. If she could get to it then Kagura will have no chance of getting the shards. A loud growl caught her attention and she saw Kirara get thrown off by another sweep of Kagura's fan. She turned and came face to face with wind demoness's haughty smirk. "Gotcha. Ryuujin no—

A sudden roar and a swipe of a clawed hand caused Kagura to fall back in surprise. She watched stunned as Inuyasha appeared out of nowhere and crouched between her and the little miko. Kagura scowled and swept her fan again but the silver haired demon sprung at her, claws extended to land another slash.

The wind demoness quickly dodged it. "So you were nearby Inuyasha. I guess I miscalculated—

She didn't finish her sentence when the hanyou suddenly leaped at her. Kagura's eyes widened as she took in the red eyes, blue pupils and jagged purple streaks on Inuyasha's face. Was he…a full demon?

The momentary surprise almost cost her her life but she managed to dodge his deadly claws at the last minute. Kagura floated a few more feet above the ground as she observed her quarry. What was going on? Why was Inuyasha a full demon all of a sudden? The wind mistress watched the demon below growl and crouch down at her and she shook her head. It didn't matter why. What mattered was that she get the shards and fast.

Kagura's eyes narrowed as she let out her wind attack once again. Demon Inuyasha however dodged every single one of them with ease and leaped at her. She floated above even further and launched another series of attacks straight at Kagome who was wide open. Inuyasha's eyes widened and he let out a roar but he was too far away from the miko to make it in time.

"Kagome-sama!"

"Kagome-chan!"

A large boomerang flew out of nowhere, deflecting the mini tornados before they touched the miko. Kagura saw Miroku and Sango run out from among the trees and stand before Kagome, covering her. "Kagura." Sango hissed.

"What's she doing here?" Miroku asked, removing the beads from around his right hand.

"KAGURA!" A new voice sounded catching the wind demoness's attention. Her eyes widened as she looked at a black haired Inuyasha on the ground. She turned towards the demon Inuyasha who had landed on the rim of the well and back at the human Inuyasha who was now standing protectively in front of Kagome.

"Inu…yasha." She said slowly. "What on earth is going on here? Why are there two of you?"

"That ain't none of your damn business." The human one yelled at her. "Where's Naraku?"

Kagura surveyed him for a few seconds before smirking. "That ain't none of your damn business." She repeated as she let out a new wave of attacks. She didn't know what was going on but she had all the time in the world to figure it out. After she got the jewel shards.

Sango launched her Hiraikotsu towards the tornadoes and managed to deflect most of them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Miroku undoing his bandages and stopped him. "Miroku you are not fully healed yet. Leave this to me."

Inuyasha drew out Tessaiga and pushed Kagome to move. "Kagome get behind the well. I'll hold her off."

"But Inuyasha—

"Go. My demon side will protect you."

Kagome glanced towards the well to see Demon Inuyasha hold out his hand for her. She ran towards him, nearly losing her balance when a tornado of wind almost hit her. Shippo transformed into a ball and caught her before she could hit the ground. "Thanks Shippo-chan."

Sango swung her boomerang at Kagura only to have it deflected by a powerful blast of wind. Human Inuyasha jumped at her, sword raised, but the wind demoness was too high for him to reach. "Not much of a fighter as a human, are you Inuyasha?" she smirked at him.

Inuyasha grit his teeth and leaped at her again but Kagura blew him off with the flick of her wrist. Demon Inuyasha growled as he saw his human side get flung off at a tree but another attack from Kagura had tornadoes of wind split the ground into two. Sango lost her balance and Miroku caught her and Shippo before either of them got flattened underneath the shifting ground. Kagome tripped over an upturned rock and fell forward, forcing Demon Inuyasha to catch her mid fall.

Kagura spotted the miko by the well and knew that if Kagome went through it she would not get the shards. With practiced ease she sent a single slice of wind to cut through the chain around her neck. A slight miscalculation had the wind slice the glass bottle instead and a single shard fell from it. Kagura lifted the bottle up with her wind and Kagome twisted up to reach for it, losing her balance again. Her hands flapped wildly for some kind of hold and her fingers curled around something strong and sinewy. It wasn't enough to right her balance however and she felt the world tilt as she fell head first into the well with a scream.

Kagura tskd as she watched the miko disappear in a bright blue light. Ah well, at least she had the shards now. She turned to look at the human Inuyasha who was groaning and getting up from within the rubble. A contemplating look crossed her face as she rose up and flew away without a backward glance.

Inuyasha rubbed at his head and cracked open an eye, surveying the damage before him. Next to him, Miroku sprang out from within the mutilated ground, heaving in gulps of air. Sango stood shakily next to him, pulling at a swirly eyed Shippo and a transformed Kirara, who lay twitching next to her. His eyes went towards the well and he gasped. "Kagome!" He ran to the well. "Where is she?"

"She must have fallen through." Miroku rubbed at his shoulder as he walked up to Inuyasha's side and peered into the well. Something shiny caught his eye and he grimaced as he picked up the fallen jewel shard. "And Kagura must have gotten the shards. Well, all except one anyway."

"Dammit!" Inuyasha yelled, punching the rim of the well. "What the hell is Naraku playing at?"

"Whatever it is, we will have to wait until Kagome-sama gets back to make our move." Miroku placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's a good thing your demon got here in time to save her else she would have been a goner." The monk looked around. "Where is he anyway? Did he get knocked out too?"

"I don't think so." Sango's small voice sounded from behind them and they turned to see her and Shippo stare at the well, pale faced. Following their line of sight the stunned duo saw a small piece of dark blue fabric flapping helplessly where it was snagged on a rusty nail along the inner rim of the bone eater's well.

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

Kagome moaned lightly and gingerly touched her head where it had hit the ground. Damn that Kagura, she thought angrily as she forced her body to sit up. Looking up at the well's opening, the lack of blue sky and the thatched roof above her told her she was back in her own time. _'At least I made it back in one piece.'_ She thought and brought her hand up to scratch her nose, stopping when she felt something tangled within her fingers. Kagome looked down and froze when she saw a clawed hand holding her's in a tight grasp. Letting her eyes trail up in horror she felt her breath get clogged in her lungs as she spotted the silver haired demon lying next to her, clearly out cold.

Kagome was not the only one who had made it back to the future!

**XxxsplitpersonalityxxX**

**TBC**

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**A/N:** Like I said, this chapter came as a dream to me and apparently I was cracking up a lot in my sleep because of it since my brother literally kicked me off the bed and told me to write the damn chapter and let him get his beauty sleep. Stupid brother! But the ache in my butt set me off to finish the chapter in one go and present it to you guys so I guess I should thank him (grumble grumble).

I know I'm being practically suicidal with the cliffhanger situation again but I just couldn't help it (grins). But I'm not promising when the next chapter will be out because even if I do finish it soon, I will post it only after I get to know what you think of this chapter. Whether you love it or hate it, whatever the case it doesn't matter so please let me know what you think, because this way I can get you better chapters next time. So yeah, Split Personality's future depends upon you guys! Don't let me down minna!

…And in case you're wondering, I'm not sour about not receiving many reviews for the last chapter (rubs nose and shifts eyes upwards). Nope… Definitely not…

(coughs discreetly and grins) Anyways, see you soon people. Hopefully (winks).

Kaijuu signing off!


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